Former West Bengal Assembly Deputy Speaker and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Asish Banerjee was found dead at his party office at his residence in Rampurhat, Birbhum, on Sunday.
Banerjee, a veteran TMC leader and a close aide of party supremo Mamata Banerjee, had represented the Rampurhat Assembly constituency for several terms.
According to the police, Banerjee’s body was found hanging inside the TMC office. It was sent for post-mortem as authorities began looking into the circumstances surrounding his death.
According to the Birbhum Police a suicide note has been found, in which the deceased mentioned that “no one is responsible for my death.”
Banerjee was a five-time MLA from Rampurhat and had served as the deputy speaker of the West Bengal Assembly when Mamata Banerjee was Chief Minister. He was also associated with the state government as education and agriculture minister after the TMC came to power for the first time.
The veteran leader had contested the state Assembly election earlier this year but lost to BJP candidate Dhruba Saha. His death comes at a time when the TMC has faced a significant political setback in Birbhum, with the BJP winning six of the district’s 11 Assembly constituencies in the latest election.
Banerjee had stepped down as chairman of the TMC’s Birbhum district core committee in June. At the time, he had said that he would continue as a general member of the party.
News of his death drew a large crowd outside the party office and his residence in Rampurhat, with local residents and party workers gathering after learning about the incident.
