West Bengal BJP leader Debendra Nath Roy was found hanging near his home in North Dinajpur; family alleges murder

A senior West Bengal BJP leader Debendra Nath Ray was found hanging near his residence in Hemtabad area in Noth Dinajpur district in the early hours of Monday. Ray, who was elected from Hemtabad Assembly seat on a CPI(M) ticket in 2016, joined the BJP after the last Lok Sabha elections. But he did not resign as an MLA.

Ray’s family members said that he left home at around 1 am on Sunday after getting a call but he did not return home and finally his body was found hanging in front of a tea stall about a kilometre away from his residence.

According to West Bengal Police Ray's body was found hanging from the verandah ceiling of a mobile shop in the area. "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 West Bengal Police.

In another tweet, it further stated that a suicide note has been recovered from Ray's pocket wherein he has mentioned names of two persons responsible for his death.

"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...," tweeted West Bengal Police.

It is also stated that investigation is going on and post mortem is yet to be conducted.

"All necessary steps of investigation such as the use of tracker dog, visit of forensic experts are being taken. PM is yet to be done. People are requested not to jump on speculative, biased and judgmental conclusions and to wait for the investigation to complete," tweeted West Bengal Police.

However, Ray's family members alleged that it was a “planned murder” and said that Ray’s hands were tied when he was found hanging. They also demanded a CBI probe into the incident.

“It is a planned murder. He was first killed and then was hanged,” said Ray’s wife Chadima Ray.

The state BJP leadership alleged that a local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader may be behind the murder and said that it should be investigated by a Central agency. “It is clear that he was murdered by someone close to him. There is no other reason why he should step outside home so late at night,” said state BJP president Dilip Ghosh.

Alleging that law and order have totally collapsed in Bengal, Ghosh said that even an MLA does not have any protection in the state.

“A TMC youth leader may be behind the incident. It should be thoroughly investigated by the Central agency,” said Ghosh.

Lashing out at the TMC government over the incident BJP president J P Nadda said that it shows that “Gunda Raj” is prevailing in West Bengal and law and order have totally collapsed.

“The suspected heinous killing of Debendra Nath Ray, BJP MLA from Hemtabad in West Bengal, is extremely shocking and deplorable. This speaks of the Gunda Raj & failure of law and order in the Mamata govt. People will not forgive such a govt in the future. We strongly condemn this,” tweeted Nadda.

West Bengal Governor Jagdep Dhankhar alleged that the stance at the top level of the state police that the incident was a suicide indicated that it was cover up.

“Hematabad MLA ‘hanging’-Police stance at the top that it is ‘suicide’ is indicative of cover-up- smacks with police prejudice, not without obvious intentions .Autopsy be VIDEOGRAPHED BY EXPERT TEAM AS PER SUPREME COURT DIRECTIVES. Highest TRANSPARENCY be observed @MamataOfficial,” tweeted Dhankhar.

Refuting the allegations, senior TMC leader and district president Kanailal Agarwal, said it was for the police to investigate the cause of Ray's death. "It is for the police to decide the cause of his (Ray) death. Whether he committed suicide or there is something else... is for the law to decide. I won't comment on it," Agarwal said.

“Law will take its own course,” Agarwal added.

Ray's death has brought back memories of two BJP activists who were found hanging near their homes in Purulia district after the 2018 Panchayat polls in the state.