Court rejects bail plea of Trinamool MLA Jiban Krishna Saha in SSC recruitment case

Kolkata, Sep 18 (IANS) The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Thursday rejected the bail plea of Trinamool Congress MLA Jiban Krishna Saha, who was arrested by Enforcement Directorate in connection with the School Service Commission recruitment scam.

The TMC MLA had applied for bail on Thursday.

At the beginning of the hearing, the ED strongly opposed to the bail application. The ED claimed that the money from the scam went to his bank accounts.

The money also went to the bank accounts of his family members. As a result, if he is granted bail, the investigation may be hampered as he is an influential person.

Although Jiban Krishna's lawyer claimed that his client is not involved in corruption in any way. Therefore, he should be granted bail this time.

However, after hearing the arguments of all parties, the judge rejected the bail petition and remanded him to judicial custody.

Last month, ED arrested the TMC MLA from his house in Burwan in Murshidabad district.

The TMC MLA tried to flee his house by scaling a boundary wall and also threw one of his two mobile phones in a bush.

However, he was stopped from escaping by ED officials who also recovered the mobile phone. After he failed to answer questions to ED officials regarding lakhs of rupees found in the bank accounts of his relatives, he was arrested by the central investigation agency.

In April 2023, the CBI had arrested Saha in the same case. After 13 months, he was granted bail by the Supreme Court.

According to sources, ED officials have claimed in the court that money from the scam has been deposited in the bank account of Jiban Krishna Saha in batches.

The ED's case stems from a CBI FIR registered on the orders of the Calcutta High Court into alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Group C and D staff, assistant teachers of classes 9 to 12 and primary teachers.

The central agency has so far filed four charge sheets and arrested several key figures, including former state education minister Partha Chatterjee, his alleged aide Arpita Mukherjee and ex-TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya.

--IANS

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