West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has denied the charge that Asish Banerjee — the former TMC MLA who was found dead in an alleged case of suicide — was pressured by any corruption cases.
“No case was registered against him and he was never sent any notice by the police,” Adhikari said, responding apparently to TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee’s allegations that the former deputy speaker of the assembly was being “pressured” by the new BJP regime.
Police will see if he was being blackmailed. Police reached the spot and sent the body for post-mortem examination. The exact circumstances leading to his death are yet to be ascertained, and police are examining the contents of the purported suicide note and other circumstances surrounding the incident, officials added. Police are investigating whether Banerjee died by suicide and, if so, what prompted him to take the extreme step. The post-mortem report and the contents of the purported note are expected to shed more light on the circumstances surrounding his death.
“I talked to members of Asish Banerjee’s family today,” Adhikari added, “They said the police and local BJP leaders always behaved well with them. They said Dhruba Saha (BJP leader who defeated him in the recent assembly election) had gone to his home and touched his feet to seek blessings after the polls. Noting that Asish Banerjee had distanced himself from the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and sided with the rebels after the polls, the CM said, “Let the police check his phone call records and find out who he had been talking to. He was a gentleman although the same cannot be said about some of his party colleagues. In this note, he is learnt to have said that no one was responsible for his death and expressed regret over entering politics at all.
“After I won from Rampurhat, I had gone to his residence to seek his blessings. Local BJP MLA Dhruba Saha, who defeated Asish Banerjee in the 2026 Assembly elections, expressed grief over his death and called for a proper investigation. The people of Rampurhat and Birbhum want to know the truth.
We want a proper investigation into his death,” Saha said.
