Purnima Kandu, a Congress councillor at Jhalda municipality in Purulia and wife of murdered councillor Tapan Kandu, also of the same party, died suddenly on Friday night.

She was 42.

Found unconscious at her home in Jhalda town on Friday night, she was taken to the block hospital where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival.

Sources said she was alone at home as her son had gone pandal-hopping on Friday evening. Purnima’s son found his mother lying unconscious on the bed on his return at night and informed neighbours.

Purnima was among the two Congress councillors currently in the 12-member Jhalda civic body. Her husband Tapan, also a Congress councillor, was murdered on March 13, 2022, while taking an evening stroll near his home by unidentified goons.

Purnima and her party had alleged that Trinamul-backed goons had murdered Tapan to wrest control of the civic body as both the parties had won an equal number of seats in the February 2022 municipal election.

Between then and now, however, three Congress councillors defected to Trinamool Congress.

Congress leaders in Purulia rushed to Purnima’s house on Saturday after the news of her death spread.

“The body was sent for post-mortem as doctors declared her brought dead. We are surprised at her sudden death. We are waiting for the autopsy report,” he said.

Former Congress state chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury mourned the young leader’s death.

“We are saddened over the sudden death of Purnima Kandu. We will stand by her family members,” said Chowdhury.

Police after the murder of Tapan formed a special investigating team (SIT) to probe the murder and arrested Tapan’s nephew Deepak Kandu who had contested unsuccessfully against him as a Trinamool Congress candidate in the poll.

Later, the SIT arrested Tapan’s cousin and Deepak’s father Naren Kandu his business partner Satyaban Karmakar his friend Ashiq Khan and Jharkhand-based contract killers Zabir Hossain Sashibhushan Singh.

Police claimed that the murder was the fallout of a rivalry between Tapan and cousin Naren over a share of the family property. The enmity intensified more after Deepak’s defeat to Tapan in the civic poll.

The case was later transferred to the CBI following a high court directive. But the CBI probe also concluded that the family dispute was the reason behind the murder.