Kolkata: Ashis Banerjee, a veteran Trinamool Congress leader and former deputy speaker of the West Bengal Assembly, was found hanging at a TMC party office in Birbhum district on Sunday morning, police sources told PTI.
A purported suicide note was recovered from the office, located near his residence at Hattala Para in Rampurhat, they said. Police reached the spot, secured the scene and sent the body for post-mortem examination.
The exact circumstances leading to his death have not been established so far, and police are examining the contents of the purported note, the sources added.
Banerjee had represented Rampurhat in the state Assembly continuously from 2001 to 2026. He served as deputy speaker and also held ministerial portfolios, including school education and agriculture, in the Mamata Banerjee government.
He contested the 2026 Assembly elections from Rampurhat on a TMC ticket but lost to BJP’s Dhruva Saha by more than 24,000 votes.
Party sources said Banerjee was not particularly active in politics after the electoral defeat. He had been a prominent TMC leader in Birbhum during the tenure of party strongman Anubrata Mondal as the district president.
His death comes as West Bengal’s political landscape has undergone a major transformation after the TMC’s defeat in this year’s Assembly elections. Several former TMC legislators and leaders are facing graft-related investigations and arrests.
Police are probing whether Banerjee died by suicide and, if so, what led him to take the extreme step. The post-mortem report and the contents of the purported note are expected to shed light about the circumstances of his death, the sources said.
