‘Had dinner with us, showed no stress’: Ex-TMC MLA Ashis Banerjee’s brother recalls his

Former Trinamool Congress MLA Asish Banerjee had dinner with his family and showed no signs of stress, his younger brother said after he allegedly died by suicide on Sunday morning. Asish was found dead inside the TMC office in Rampurhat in Bengal's Birbhum district.

Asish's brother Prasanta said that he used to sit at the party office for some time every morning after his morning walk and followed the routine today as well. (Facebook)His younger brother Prasanta Banerjee was among those who discovered his dead body and alerted.

What Happened

He used to sit at the party office for some time every morning after his morning walk. Prasanta said that Asish had dinner with family members on Saturday night and showed no sign of stress.

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• The Bharatiya Janata Party, which swept the Bengal assembly polls in May, recently alleged that financial corruption had been detected at the Tarapith Rampurhat Development Authority (TRDA) and Banerjee was involved in it.

Key Details

Asish, a five-time MLA and a close associate of TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee, was found dead on Sunday morning and a purported suicide note was also recovered from the spot. While the matter is under investigation, police said Asish apparently died by.

• He alleged that attempts had been made to "malign" and humiliate him, and said he felt that entering politics had been a mistake.

• The note also reportedly contained a reference to the Tarapith-Rampurhat Development Authority (TRDA), with Banerjee claiming that he had no role in its tender-related decisions, cheque issuance, plan approvals or no-objection certificates.

• He also wrote that although he could not always accept "wrongdoings" within the party, he had been unable to protest against them.

Why It Matters

In the purported note, Banerjee is learnt to have said that no one was responsible for his death and expressed regret over entering politics. The note has gone viral on social media.

• According to the purported one-page note, Banerjee claimed that he had never been involved in corruption and had never taken money in exchange for any work.

• However, HT could not independently verify the veracity of the note.

What Reports Say

Coverage of the story so far points to:

• Continued reporting by Hindustan Times as more details emerge