Asish Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee's Close Aide, Found Dead At Trinamool Office

Asish Banerjee, the former deputy speaker of the West Bengal assembly, was found dead this morning at a Trinamool Congress's office next to his house in Birbhum district's Rampurhat city. His body, which was found hanging, was sent for postmortem, the police said.

Asish Banerjee served as deputy speaker when Trinamool head Mamata Banerjee was chief minister. He was a five-time MLA from Rampurhat.

A handwritten note was also found near the body, local reports said. "No one is responsible for my death," the text said, according to the reports that NDTV could not independently verify.

Asish Banerjee also expressed regret over his entry into politics and asked his family not to get involved in politics, reports said. In the purported note, he denied he had anything to do with corruption and asserted that though he could not accept the party's "wrongdoing", he was never able to protest against it.

He lost to BJP's Dhruba Saha in the state election earlier this year.

He lived in the Hattalapara neighbourhood in Rampurhat. A large crowd had gathered outside the party office when they heard his body had been found.

A large crowd gathers outside Asish Banerjee's house after hearing about his death

Asish Banerjee served as Bengal education and agriculture minister since Mamata Banerjee came to power for the first time many years ago.

Asish Banerjee had stepped down from the post of chairman of the Trinamool's Birbhum district core committee in June, though he announced he would remain as the party's general member.

The BJP won six out of 11 constituencies in Birbhum in the latest election. In 2021, the Trinamool won 10 seats against the BJP's one in the same district.

Today's development comes amid big changes in Bengal politics following the Trinamool's defeat after 15 years in power. Several former Trinamool MLAs and leaders face corruption-related investigations and arrests.