Bengal BJP MLA found hanging outside shop

NORTH DINAJPUR: The body of CPM-turned-BJP MLA from Hemtabad, Debendra Nath Roy was found hanging in front of a closed shop 1.5km from his residence on Monday morning, sparking a war of words between the BJP and Trinamool Congress (TMC) on how and why he died.
The Bengal government ordered an inquiry by CID into the unnatural death even as BJP called a 12-hour bandh in eight north Bengal districts on Tuesday, demanding a CBI probe.
North Dinajpur superintendent of police Sujit Kumar said, “prima facie”, it was a suicide case. “We have found a suicide note from his pocket. It points to some people responsible for his death,” he said.
Senior state BJP leaders, however, said they were not certain whether the “killing was political” and that was why an impartial probe was needed to establish the truth. The 59-year-old MLA’s family, including wife Chandrima Roy, too, alleged that he was murdered after being “picked up from home”.
TMC denied any role in the incident. “A probe is on and I hope it will establish the truth. There is no point speculating,” party’s North Dinajpur president Kanaia Lal Agarwal said.
Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, however, trashed the “suicide” angle and said the police version was “indicative of a cover-up”. He wanted an “autopsy videographed in accordance with SC directives.