The post-mortem report of BJP's West Bengal MLA Debendranath Ray states that he died "due to effects of hanging."
Ray, an MLA from the Hemtabad constituency, was found hanging near his home in the state's North Dinajpur district on Monday, 13 July.
"Ray was found hanging near a shop at Hemtabad area this (Monday) morning. We have started an investigation," a senior district police officer told news agency PTI.
Ray had contested from Hemtabad – an SC-reserved constituency – on a CPI(M) ticket in 2016, but later switched to the BJP in 2019.
The state BJP and its leaders have tweeted condoling Ray's death and have also raised questions on whether the death was cause by suicide or was a political murder.
"The way he has been hanged shows that this is a conspiracy and pre-meditated murder made to look like a suicide. We feel that the Trinamool Congress is behind this murder and orchestrated this because of the large support the BJP is getting from the people of North Dinajpur,” said BJP leader Rahul Sinha.
West Bengal Governor, Jagdeep Dhankhar, too, tweeted about the same.
The state government and Trinamool Congress are yet to react to these allegations.
In a tweet, West Bengal police said that a suicide note had been recovered from the body.
"Today morning the dead body of MLA Hemtabad, Debendra Nath Roy was detected hanging from the verandah ceiling of a mobile shop at Balia, Deben More, Raigunj, Uttar Dinajpur", tweeted the West Bengal Police.
"A suicide note is recovered from the shirt pocket of the deceased. Two persons have been named in the note as responsible for his death", it further tweeted.
The police says that investigation is underway and that no conclusions should be drawn before investigations reveal more.
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