Birbhum: Senior Trinamool Congress leader and former Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Asish Banerjee was found dead on Sunday morning inside a party office near his residence in Rampurhat, Birbhum district. Local police recovered his body hanging inside the premises, triggering shock across the regional political landscape.
Authorities confirmed that a purported suicide note was recovered from the site, and the body was subsequently sent for a post-mortem examination. Family members reported that Banerjee had participated in local Independence Day flag-hoisting events the previous day and had spent standard routine hours at the office without showing outward signs of distress, until relatives noticed a suspended rope through an opening in the door early Sunday morning.
The 70-year-old veteran politician had been a dominant political figure in Birbhum district, serving five consecutive terms as an elected Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Rampurhat constituency. During the initial terms of the Mamata Banerjee-led administration, he held cabinet portfolios overseeing the state’s education and agriculture departments before later assuming the role of Deputy Speaker in the legislative assembly.
Banerjee recently stepped down from his post as the president of the Trinamool Congress Birbhum district core committee in June, while retaining his general party membership. Local law enforcement officials have registered a case and initiated an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death.
