Third TMC MLA held in recruitment scam a teacher-turned-politician, aide of ‘tainted’ Anubrata Mandal

Originally from a business family, Saha started his career as an assistant teacher at a state-run primary school in 2006 during Left Front rule. Six years later, in 2012, he secured a job in a high school via the state School Service Commission (SSC), and joined Debagram High School in Birbhum district.

He also began his career in politics the same year. Sources claim he used to be a regular at different social programmes like blood donation camps and cultural events held in Murshidabad, sharing the stage with local leaders across parties like the BJP and TMC. He is also known to be a close aide of TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal, who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail in a cattle-smuggling case. In 2021, Saha managed to get a TMC ticket and contested the Assembly elections from Burwan.

Saha won the seat defeating Amiya Kumar Das of the BJP by a margin of 2,749 votes. With the seat a Congress stronghold for decades, there has been no looking back for him since then. Prior to that, in the 2016 Assembly elections, Protima Rajak of the Congress had won the seat by defeating Shasthi Charan Mal of the TMC by 15,002 votes. In 2011, Rajak had beaten Binoy Sarkar of the RSP by 616 votes.

Even in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had got the most votes from the Burwan Assembly segment to win the Berhampore Lok Sabha seat, of which Burwan is a part.

The CBI claims Saha is “not cooperating” with them and has also tried to tamper with evidence in the presence of officials of its anti-corruption branch. Searches at Saha’s residence started on Friday, April 14, and continued till Monday. Of the MLA’s two mobile phones, officials have recovered the one he allegedly threw into a pond adjacent to his house just after the federal agency’s team first arrived on Friday morning, and attempts are on to recover data from it. The search for his other phone is reportedly still on.

In a statement, the CBI said: “It is alleged that the accused (Saha) acted as a conduit in collecting money from [SSC] candidates by promising them jobs as teachers, in the recruitment process of the State Level Selection Test of 2016 (SLST 2016) for classes IX and X. During searches, several incriminating documents were recovered, including recruitment lists of primary and secondary teachers, as well as lists of candidates with certain amounts mentioned against their names.”

While conducting the searches, the CBI also claimed to have recovered five bags of documents from bushes adjacent to the boundary wall of his residence. These were affixed with photographs of aspiring candidates who had allegedly paid bribe money. As per officials, Saha would charge Rs 5-7 lakh each from those teaching jobs.

The CBI alleges that the total amount in bribes collected from candidates by Saha ran into crores.

The arrest has triggered a fresh political uproar, with the TMC raising questions on the agency’s probe. “If central agencies are so neutral, why has Suvendu Adhikari not been arrested? He was captured on camera taking money,and has his name in the FIR [of the alleged Saradha scam]. This is a conspiracy by the central government to divert people’s attention from the jungleraj in UP, which we have all witnessed through a recent incident. Such things are being done through central agencies in different states,” said the TMC’s chief spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: “TMC MLAs are being targeted in a planned manner. They have targeted 4-5 more MLAs. Have they ever targeted any BJP MLA? They are arresting our MLAs to bring down the numbers of our MLAs in the Assembly.”

CBI sources said about eight-nine other MLAs are also under their scanner in the case. More than 12 accused, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee and officials of the state Education Department, are already behind bars for their alleged involvement in the scam, which involves illegally providing jobs in state-run schools against bribes.
Adhikari said several other TMC MLAs are involved in the recruitment scam. “I’ve worked with the TMC for many years. I can say at least 100 MLAs, including some who did not receive tickets in 2016, have worked as agents of the WBSSC scam. They collected at least Rs 15-18 lakh from each candidate… In the next 6-10 months, the total number of TMC MLAs in the state Assembly will be reduced to below 100,” Adhikari told reporters on Sunday.

Reacting to Saha’s arrest, BJP state president Dr Sukanta Majumdar tweeted about the allegation that Saha had tried to get rid of his phones. “Whom is he trying to shield?” he tweeted.

BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said: “Jiban Krishna Saha is the dark horse in the [state] government’s marathon of corruption. Mamata Banerjee has retained power for so long only by betting on these corrupt leaders and ministers.”