ED grills arrested TMC MLA Jiban Saha's aunt in school jobs 'scam' for nearly 7 hours

Kolkata, Aug 28 (PTI) After arresting Trinamool Congress MLA Jiban Krishna Saha from West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday questioned his paternal aunt for at least seven hours in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in school recruitments, a senior official of the agency said.

Maya Saha, a TMC councillor of Sainthia Municipality in neighbouring Birbhum district, and her husband were questioned by the officers of the central probe agency for their alleged involvement in the recruitment scam, he said.

"We are questioning his aunt, who is also a senior leader of the party. We have found her name involved in several land-grabbing cases," the official said.

The Enforcement Department (ED) officials on Monday conducted a raid at the residence of Saha's aunt in Birbhum.

Maya, while entering the ED office at the CGO Complex in Kolkata, rejected the allegations of her involvement in the corruption.

"All the allegations made against me are completely baseless. My husband has been running a business for 40 years. There is no money from corruption involved," she said.

Later, after coming out of the ED office, she said that, as asked, they submitted documents in connection with their savings in their banks and other properties.

"In case there is a need, the ED officers may call us again," she said.

The ED on Monday arrested the Burwan MLA following raids as part of its probe into alleged irregularities in the hiring of teachers and staffers in schools in West Bengal.

He was currently in ED custody. According to sources, the MLA tried to flee from his house during the raids by scaling a wall. He also threw his phones into a drain behind his house, and those have been recovered. PTI SCH NN