Kolkata: “I was never involved in corruption. It was a blunder to join politics,” reads the suicide note left by Ashis Banerjee, the former deputy speaker of the West Bengal Assembly and ex-Trinamool Congress MLA from Rampurhat in Birbhum, who was found hanging inside a party office on Sunday morning, police sources said.
The alleged suicide note was retrieved from the TMC office situated close to his residence at Hattalapara, under Ward Number V of the Rampurhat Municipality, the sources added.
Banerjee’s body has been sent for post-mortem examination, and the precise circumstances that led to his death are still being ascertained, according to police sources.
The suicide note in Bengali, written on his letterhead pad as an ex-associate professor of Rampurhat College in the district, states: “No one is responsible for my death.”
The five-time Trinamool MLA from Rampurhat constituency has also repented for joining politics in the note and advised all members of his family not to get involved in politics, as reported by The New Indian Express.
During the Trinamool Congress dispensation, then Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inducted him into her cabinet as the state’s school education minister. In the suicide note, he repeatedly maintained that he was never involved in any corruption and said he could not raise his voice against his party’s wrongdoings.
In the note, Banerjee insisted that he wielded no actual power within the Tarapith Rampurhat Development Authority (TRDA) in the district.
Detailing his grievances, he wrote: “Besides the general meeting in the TRDA, I had no other responsibilities there. I was never in the tender committee and I had no power in issuing cheques. I was never involved in issues like approval of building plans or no-objection certificates (NoC). No one discussed anything about these issues with me. I condemned what have been done against me to malign me. Today, I think that it’s a blunder to join politics. I advise boys in our family not to join politics. You do your own works.”
He did not identify anyone by name whom he felt had sought to damage his reputation. He also added: “I have done teachership throughout my life. I never skip any classes and have taken special classes. I have taught many students without taking any fees. I have got lot of love from them.”
In the latest West Bengal assembly polls, he lost the Rampurhat seat to a BJP candidate by a margin of 24,000 votes.