Debendra Nath Roy, the MLA from Hemtabad in north Bengal who had crossed over to the BJP last year, was found hanging on Monday morning in front of a shop a 10-minute walk from his home —the unnatural death triggering a war of words between the BJP and the Trinamul Congress over law and order in the state.
The BJP and Roy’s family alleged that the 61-year-old leader, who had won as a CPM candidate in the 2016 Assembly elections but switched over to the BJP in 2019, had been murdered. The party sought a CBI probe and called for a 12-hour bandh across north Bengal on Tuesday.
But the district superintendent of police of North Dinajpur, where Hemtabad is located, said a suicide note had been found in Roy’s shirt pocket.
“The note has the names of some people whom the deceased held responsible for his death. Preliminary investigation suggests that it might be a suicide. We are waiting for the post-mortem report. Our officers are trying to collect more information. The state has asked the CID to carry out a probe,” the SP, Sumit Kumar, said.
Roy’s wife Chandrima said a group of youths had arrived on motorcycles around 1am at their home in Baliadighi village. She said Roy had gone out with them and was murdered.
In her complaint to the police, who were investigating the case till the government handed it over to the CID, she said: “Around 1am on Monday, I woke up to the sound of several motorbikes.... Someone called out to my husband and he went out to meet them.
“I thought that as he is the local MLA, people may have come seeking his help in an emergency. I went off to sleep. This morning, some people came and told me he had been found hanging.” One of Roy’s hands was tied, she said.
As news spread, hundreds assembled at the village. District BJP leaders, including Raiganj MP and junior Union minister Debasree Chaudhari, too arrived.
“It is a planned murder. We suspect that he has been killed with political intentions. Our party leaders are aware of the matter and have raised the demand for an impartial probe in appropriate quarters. We feel the police are trying to cook up a theory of suicide to shield those involved in the crime,” Biswajit Lahiri, the North Dinajpur district BJP president, said.
Some family members told the BJP leaders that Roy had received threat calls over the past few days.
West Bengal Police issued an appeal on Twitter to people not to jump to conclusions.
The tweet said: “All necessary steps of investigation such as use of tracker dog, visit of forensic experts are being taken. PM is yet to be done. People are requested not to jump on speculative, biased and judgmental conclusions and to wait for the investigation to complete.”