BJP MLA found hanging near home in North Dinajpur

Kolkata: Hemtabad BJP MLA Debendranath Roy was found hanging near his home at Raigunj in North Dinajpur on Monday morning.

According to his family, Roy went out of his house at around 1 am on Sunday. Though his family members did not see anyone, they alleged that Roy was called and murdered. Early on Monday morning, locals saw Roy's body hanging from a structure outside a closed tea shop, located around one kilometre away from his home.

It is alleged that his hands were tied up. Roy's family members said he was murdered and later hanged. However, police claimed that Roy committed suicide and a note has also been found from his shirt's pocket in which he has named two persons.

Though police consider it to be a suicide, BJP leadership is claiming that he has been murdered. State BJP president Dilip Ghosh demanded a CBI probe in connection with the MLA's death.

Senior Trinamool Congress leader Firhad Hakim criticised the BJP's demand and said that the saffron party is doing politics surrounding the death of an MLA. "What will CBI do? State police is capable of handling such cases. We have faith on the administration," Hakim Said.

On Monday, a sniffer dog was brought in but no clue has been detected so far. Police are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the cause of Roy's death.

Debendra Nath Roy was an elected representative from the reserved seat in Uttar Dinajpur. He was a former member of the CPI(M) and won from the party ticket in three consecutive terms. He had joined the BJP along with 50 other councillors in May last year.

The BJP has called 12-hour strike in North Dinajpur on Tuesday.