Kolkata, August 16: Five-term legislator and former West Bengal Agriculture Minister Asish Banerjee was found dead inside a party office adjacent to his home in Rampurhat, prompting an immediate police investigation. Local residents gathered outside the premises on Sunday morning after his body was recovered from the Hattalapara facility.
According to reports from investigators, a purported suicide note found at the location explicitly rejected allegations of financial misdeeds during his decades in public office. The late leader asserted in the document that he had maintained complete integrity across his political journey.
“I was never involved in corruption,” Banerjee maintained in the recovered letter, rejecting claims of wrongdoing throughout his time serving the state and his constituency.
Having served as the Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly during the Trinamool Congress administration, Banerjee held multiple cabinet posts before losing his long-held Rampurhat seat in the 2026 elections. The previous day, he had engaged with community members during Independence Day functions, hoisting the Tricolour in his area.
Rampurhat police station personnel arrived on site promptly to carry out initial procedures before sending the body for a mandatory post-mortem examination. Local authorities are reviewing the recovered statements and circumstances to finalize their investigation.
