Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has called for a detailed probe into the death of former Assembly Deputy Speaker and veteran Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Asish Banerjee, saying police should examine whether he had been threatened or blackmailed.
Banerjee, a five-time MLA from Rampurhat who represented the constituency for 25 consecutive years from 2001, was found dead on Sunday at a TMC office in Birbhum district.
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A note recovered from the office said that no one was responsible for his death and expressed regret over entering politics, while appearing to assert his innocence against allegations of corruption.
Adhikari said the authenticity and handwriting of the note would be verified through forensic examination.
“I have spoken to the police and the district magistrate about the death and the probable circumstances leading to it,” Adhikari told reporters at the state secretariat.
The Chief Minister said he had spoken to Banerjee’s family and asked whether he had faced any harassment. According to Adhikari, the family did not make any such allegation.
However, he said investigators should not rule out the possibility that Banerjee had been threatened by people associated with “corrupt elements” in the TMC, particularly after the former MLA distanced himself from the faction led by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“It is possible that someone may have threatened him… It is possible that someone was blackmailing him,” Adhikari said, adding that the circumstances needed to be examined rather than assumed.
Adhikari said he had asked Banerjee’s family to hand over his mobile phones to the police chief and the Birbhum superintendent of police.
Investigators, he said, should examine call records and messages to determine whether the former MLA had received threats.
The Chief Minister also said Asish Banerjee had resigned from a committee formed by Mamata Banerjee after the TMC’s drubbing in the Assembly polls earlier this year, suggesting that his political distancing could be relevant to the investigation.
At the same time, Adhikari described Asish Banerjee as an honest, decent and clean political leader with whom he had maintained a cordial relationship despite being on opposite sides of the political divide.
“There were only a handful of TMC MLAs in 2006, with him and me being among them. What has happened is painful,” he said.
Adhikari said Asish Banerjee’s family had told him that the former MLA maintained good relations with people across political lines, including BJP workers.
He cited BJP MLA Dhruba Saha’s visit after defeating him in the election, saying Saha had sought the veteran leader’s blessings.
Adhikari said Banerjee had also contacted him after he became Chief Minister, expressing a desire to meet him at the state secretariat.
He maintained that there was no reason to attribute wrongdoing to Banerjee himself, while distinguishing him from allegations against some of his associates and followers.
“He had a very clean character. I do not think that there was ever an FIR against Asish Babu,” he said, adding that his family had also told him that he had never received a police call.
Referring to the political situation in Rampurhat, Adhikari said Banerjee could not be held responsible for any alleged activity involving people around him.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
