Kolkata: Trinamool Congress MLA Jiban Krishna Saha, on Saturday, was sent to jail custody for 12 days by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court, officials said.
The MLA, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on August 25 in connection with the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment case, was produced in the court after his six-day ED remand ended.
It was learned that Saha broke down in the court after seeing his wife and son.
His lawyer Zakir Hussain said that the Trinamool Congress MLA has cooperated with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) when he was in their custody.
Therefore, the lawyer prayed for Saha’s release.
Meanwhile, the ED filed an application seeking re-custody of Saha.
The MLA’s lawyer said that documents have been submitted as well in a few days on what has been found in the investigation.
If necessary, the Investigating Officer can inform the court about it.
The MLA’s lawyer however countered that there is a possibility that someone bigger is involved in the case as per the allegations made by the ED but there are very few allegations against his client.
The lawyer called his client a ‘third line agent’.
He also said that the ‘real’ accused have got bail in connection with the case.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the PMLA court sent Saha to jail custody till September 12.
On Monday, the ED arrested the MLA from his house in Burwan in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district.
The 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 queries to ED officials regarding lakhs of rupees found in the bank accounts of his relatives, the MLA was arrested by the central investigation agency.
He was sent to a six-day ED remand by the Kolkata’s PMLA court.
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 Saha in batches.
In three years from 2019 to 2021, Rs 50 lakh was deposited in the bank accounts of Saha and his wife in batches, sources said.
According to the central agency sources, a total of eight bank accounts have been found in the name of Saha, from where money was withdrawn and transferred.
The ED claimed that a total of Rs 46 lakh worth of transactions have been detected.
Of this, Rs 26 lakh went to the MLA’s wife Tagori Saha’s account and the remaining Rs 20 lakh were sent by the MLA to his father’s account.
It is learnt that the arrested MLA’s wife is a teacher by profession.
On Thursday, the ED questioned Saha’s aunt and Trinamool Congress Councillor, Maya Saha, in connection with the investigation.
However, Maya Saha claimed that she was not involved in the SSC recruitment scam case.
The ED’s case stems from an FIR filed by the CBI registered on the orders of the Calcutta High Court into the 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 former Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya.
(IANS)
