Trinamool Congress leader and former West Bengal Assembly Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee was found hanging inside a party office in the state's Birbhum district on Sunday.
He was a five-time MLA from Rampurhat, having represented the constituency for 25 consecutive years from 2001 to 2026. Banerjee, however, lost the seat to Bharatiya Janata Party's Dhruba Saha in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls.
His body was recovered from a TMC office adjacent to his Rampurhat residence. This came a day after the former TMC MLA participated in a local Independence Day celebration and hoisted the Tricolour there.
A purported suicide note has also been recovered. In the note, Banerjee vehemently denied any wrongdoing, stating he was never involved in corruption throughout his political career.
He apparently referred to corruption charges related to his stint as an office holder of the Tarapith Rampurhat Development Authority (TRDA).
The exact circumstances leading to his death were not immediately clear. Police have launched an investigation and the body has been sent for postmortem.
