Trinamool Congress MLA Jiban Krishna Saha after he was apprehended while trying to escape.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Monday (August 25, 2025) arrested Trinamool Congress MLA Jiban Krishna Saha for his alleged involvement in the West Bengal school recruitment scam. The arrest comes on the allegations of corruption in the recruitment of assistant teachers in class IX and X carried out by the West Bengal School Service Commission.
The MLA from Burwan Assembly constituency in State’s Murshidabad district was in April 2023 arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on similar charges and was out on bail.
On Monday morning when ED officials reached his residence at Burwan constituency, the MLA allegedly tried to escape by jumping from the first floor and scaling the boundary wall of the compound. He was chased and apprehended by the ED.
The MLA also threw his mobile phone in the drainage which was recovered by the ED officials after a through search. In 2023, when a team of CBI had raided his residence, the MLA had made a similar attempt and had thrown his mobile phone in a pond. The phones were recovered after a three day search.
On Monday, ED officials also searched the residence of the MLA relatives in Murshidabad and adjoining district. The MLA was arrested after he tried to throw away his mobile phone and tried to escape from the ED team. The ED officials are likely to produce him before a court in Kolkata. ED officials say that the MLA was the beneficiary in the corruption in the recruitment scam and the money trail leads to him.
Several leaders of Trinamool Congress and including former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the West Bengal school recruitment scam. The scam where massive irregularities and corruption have surfaced in recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff in state run school has dominated politics of the State for the past three years.
On April 3, 2025 the Supreme Court set aside the entire panel of teaching and non teaching staff whose recruitment was held by WBSSC in 2016 on the ground of irregularities in the recruitment scam. Over 25,000 teachers and non teaching staff have lost their appointments after the entire panel was cancelled.
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Published – August 25, 2025 10:41 am IST
