Matua Mahasangha leader wrote to PM Modi seeking a high-level probe into the Matua matriarch's death.
A day after the death of Matua community matriarch Binapani Devi, her youngest grandson and All India Matua Mahasangha leader Shantanu Thakur wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a high-level inquiry into her death.
Binapani Devi, popularly known as 'Boro ma', died last evening following multi-organ failure at the state-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. She will be cremated at the Matua Mahasangha headquarters known as 'Thakurbari' in North 24 Parganas district's Thakurnagar on Thursday.
Considered one of Bengal's most influential Scheduled Caste communities comprising primarily low-caste Hindu refugees from Bangladesh, the Matua Mahasangha has over one crore members across various southern Bengal districts, especially North 24 Parganas.
"I have written to Prime Minister Modi requesting him to conduct a high-level inquiry into Boro ma's death. A central medical board should be formed to determine whether her death was natural. If needed, a CBI inquiry should be initiated," Mr Thakur, leader of the BJP-aligned faction of Matua Mahasangha, told IANS.
He also claimed that he and his elder brother were not informed when their grandmother was taken to the Hospital in Nadia district's Kalyani and were stopped from entering the hospital.
"We were not allowed to enter the Kalyani JNM Hospital initially. Later we forced our way in. Then she was quickly shifted to SSKM, where suddenly she was declared dead. We are suspicious over the entire episode. It should be probed," he said.
Admitted to JNM Hospital in Nadia district's Kalyani on February 28 following shortness of breath and fever, Boro ma was moved to the Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital on Sunday after her condition deteriorated.
Mr Thakur, the son of Boro ma's younger son and former minister in the Mamata Banerjee government, Manjul Krishna Thakur, was influential in bringing Prime Minister Modi to Thakurnagar and meet Boro ma in February this year.
The political alliance of the family now stands divided as Shantanu and his father are currently with BJP while Boro ma's elder daughter-in-law Mamata Bala Thakur is a Lok Sabha MP from Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress.
Boro ma was the chief advisor of the Mahasangha.