Former West Bengal Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee Found Dead at TMC Office; Family Voices Doubt, Purported Note Recovered

Dr. Asish Banerjee, 74, a former deputy speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and a five-time Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator from Rampurhat, was found hanging inside a party office attached to his residence in Birbhum district's Hattala Para locality on Sunday morning, police told multiple news agencies. Officers recovered a one-page, purportedly handwritten note from the scene; his body was sent for a post-mortem examination, and investigators have not confirmed the note's authorship or the precise circumstances of his death.

Birbhum Superintendent of Police Vidit Raj Bhundesh described the case as “primarily” being treated as a suicide, with a note recovered at the scene, though police stressed the investigation was continuing. Reports differ slightly on how the body was discovered: some accounts describe the room as having been found locked, while Banerjee's brother, Prasanta Banerjee, told reporters that family members first noticed a rope through a gap in the door, grew suspicious, and then called police. A large crowd gathered outside the residence and party office after news of the death spread through Rampurhat, a subdivisional town in Birbhum district.

What Is Confirmed, and What Remains Unverified

Several elements are established across independently reported, police-sourced accounts: Banerjee's body was found hanging in a room used as a Trinamool Congress office adjoining his home; a note was recovered from the same location; and the body was sent for post-mortem examination, with results pending at the time of writing. Beyond that, key facts remain provisional. Police have described the death as a suspected suicide but have not publicly confirmed the note's authorship, and news agency PTI reported it could not independently verify the letter circulating in media and on social platforms. The precise sequence of events preceding Banerjee's death has not been disclosed by investigators.

As of Sunday afternoon, neither former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee nor sitting Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had issued a personal statement on the death, according to IANS. Individual leaders from both major parties, however, reacted swiftly and publicly — detailed below.

The Family's Account

Prasanta Banerjee, the deceased leader's brother, told reporters that the family had had dinner together the previous evening and that Banerjee had shown no unusual signs of stress. According to his account, relatives noticed a rope visible through a gap in the door of the party office early Sunday, which raised their suspicion; family members were summoned and police were then informed. The family's description of an apparently ordinary evening beforehand has fed public questions — echoed by leaders in both parties — about what prompted the death, and underscores why police have stopped short of a final determination pending post-mortem and forensic results.

The Purported Note

According to police and multiple news reports, the one-page note — written in Bengali — said no one should be held responsible for Banerjee's death. It reportedly opened with an account of his political life since his student days, asserting he had never been involved in corruption and had never accepted money in exchange for official favours, including during his tenure as general secretary of the students' union at Burdwan University.

The letter went on to detail grievances over his position within the Tarapith-Rampurhat Development Authority (TRDA), a local development body, stating that his only responsibility there was attending general body meetings — that he had no seat on the tender committee, no cheque-signing authority, and no involvement in plan approvals or no-objection certificates for projects. It reportedly closed with an appeal to his sons not to enter politics and to remain in their own professions. Police have not disclosed whether they are treating the letter as evidence of a specific dispute or as a broader statement of disillusionment, and its authenticity has not been forensically confirmed.

Given the sensitivity of reporting on suicide, this article paraphrases rather than reproduces the note and omits personal details beyond what bears on the public record of Banerjee's office.

Political Reactions

The death immediately drew reaction from figures in both major parties. TMC legislator Kunal Ghosh, a prominent voice within the faction of the party that has remained aligned with Mamata Banerjee, demanded an independent investigation, suggesting Banerjee had been unable to bear pressure linked to fear of social stigma and placing responsibility on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Dhruba Saha, the BJP legislator who defeated Banerjee in the 2026 election, separately told reporters he had met Banerjee only days earlier and could not reconcile that with the news; he, too, called for an investigation, including the possibility of a probe by an agency other than the state police.

These statements — from a TMC legislator and the BJP lawmaker who unseated Banerjee — indicate both camps are pushing to shape the narrative around a politically sensitive death, even as the party leaderships themselves had not weighed in as of Sunday afternoon.

Who Was Asish Banerjee

Born on November 3, 1951, in Rampurhat, Banerjee held a PhD and an MA in Bengali from Burdwan University and worked as an associate professor at Rampurhat College until entering full-time politics in 2001. He represented the Rampurhat constituency in Birbhum district continuously from 2001 until 2026, winning five consecutive terms on a Trinamool Congress ticket — a 25-year run as MLA. He served as the 13th deputy speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from July 2, 2021, to May 7, 2026, and earlier held ministerial portfolios in successive Mamata Banerjee-led governments, including Agriculture (2017–2021), School Education, Biotechnology, Statistics and Programme Monitoring (2015–2016), and AYUSH-related charge (2014–2015). He was widely described in media coverage as a close aide of Mamata Banerjee and rose through Birbhum's Trinamool Congress structure alongside district strongman Anubrata Mondal.

His political fortunes turned in 2026. Contesting Rampurhat for a sixth term, Banerjee lost to BJP candidate Dhruba Saha, who received 111,920 votes to Banerjee's 87,687 — a margin of 24,233, according to Election Commission of India results. It was part of a wider Trinamool Congress collapse across Birbhum, where the BJP won six of the district's eleven assembly seats, reversing a 2021 result in which the TMC had taken ten of eleven. He remained largely out of active politics after his defeat, according to party sources cited in multiple reports. In June 2026, he resigned as chairman of the Trinamool Congress's Birbhum district core committee — while saying he would remain a general party member — and at the time had criticised the committee's conduct during the campaign.

A Landslide Defeat, and a Change of Government

Banerjee's death comes roughly three and a half months after the 2026 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, in which the BJP won 207 of 294 seats to the TMC's 80, according to Election Commission results declared on May 4 — ending the Trinamool Congress's fifteen-year hold on power and making the BJP the first right-of-centre party to govern the state. Turnout was recorded at roughly 93 to 94 percent, surpassing the previous state record of 84.72 percent set in 2011. Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP's Nandigram MLA and former leader of the opposition, was sworn in as the state's ninth chief minister; by the time of Banerjee's death, the BJP government headed by Adhikari had already been in office for more than six weeks.

The transition of power has been marked by sustained political tension. Within 48 hours of the May 4 result, Chandranath Rath, described by BJP leaders as an aide to Suvendu Adhikari, was shot dead in North 24 Parganas district in an attack the BJP characterised as targeted political violence, according to contemporaneous reporting; the party separately alleged reprisals against its workers in several districts following the change of government. In the months since, a number of former Trinamool Congress leaders and legislators have faced corruption-related investigations and, in some cases, arrests — a pattern several outlets covering Banerjee's death cited as relevant backdrop, without asserting any direct link to his case.

Birbhum in particular has been a flashpoint for such scrutiny. Anubrata Mondal, the district's long-time TMC strongman and a close aide of Mamata Banerjee, was arrested in August 2022 by the Central Bureau of Investigation over an alleged multi-crore cattle-smuggling racket along the India-Bangladesh border, and was later held on related money-laundering charges pursued by the Enforcement Directorate before being granted bail. According to his public political profile, Mondal served as Birbhum district TMC president from 2009 to 2025 before being repositioned as convenor of the district's core committee — the same restructured body Banerjee had chaired and publicly criticised before resigning his own post within it in June 2026.

Distinguishing Fact From Inference

Responsible reporting on this case requires separating what is documented from what is speculative. It is a verified fact that Banerjee was found dead by hanging at a TMC office in Rampurhat, that a note was recovered, and that his body was sent for post-mortem. It is an official police position — not yet independently corroborated — that the death is being treated primarily as a suicide. The content and authorship of the note is, at this stage, an unverified claim reported by police sources and repeated across media outlets, pending forensic confirmation. Any suggestion that internal party pressure, corruption allegations, or his 2026 electoral defeat directly caused his death is, on current evidence, an analytical inference drawn from the note's reported contents rather than an established fact — a distinction underscored by his brother's account of an apparently uneventful evening beforehand. Readers should treat all such claims accordingly until the post-mortem findings and the police investigation are complete.

Why It Matters

Banerjee's death is significant less because of what it proves about any single dispute than because of what it reflects about the state of West Bengal's ruling-party-turned-opposition. The Trinamool Congress is navigating its first extended period out of power in fifteen years, a wave of investigations into former officeholders, and visible strain within its district-level leadership — Birbhum among the most closely watched, given Anubrata Mondal's earlier legal troubles and Banerjee's own public criticism of the local party apparatus shortly before his death. That both a TMC legislator and the BJP candidate who defeated Banerjee have separately called for an independent inquiry suggests the case is already being contested politically, regardless of what the post-mortem ultimately shows.

What Remains Unresolved

The most consequential open questions are narrow and evidentiary rather than speculative: whether the post-mortem is consistent with the hanging as initially described; whether forensic handwriting analysis authenticates the note; and whether police, having heard the family's account of an apparently ordinary evening beforehand, identify any specific event or communication in the hours before Banerjee's death. Statements from the Trinamool Congress leadership and from the chief minister's office, neither of which had been issued as of Sunday afternoon, are also likely in the coming days and could shape how the case is publicly understood. Any of these developments could materially change the account currently available.

Conclusion

What is established is limited but significant: a senior, long-serving legislator and former deputy speaker of the West Bengal Assembly is dead; a note raising questions about his standing within his own party has surfaced but is not yet authenticated; his family has publicly questioned the suicide narrative; and both major political parties have called for scrutiny of the circumstances. What remains unresolved — the note's authenticity, the precise circumstances of Banerjee's death, and any causal link to political or personal pressure — will depend on an investigation that has only just begun.

Editor's note: This report concerns a death by suspected suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, in India you can reach the Kiran mental health helpline at 1800-599-0019, or the iCall helpline at 9152987821. Support is also available through Vandrevala Foundation at 1860-2662-345.

Editorial status: This is a fast-developing story. Facts recorded here reflect reporting available as of Sunday afternoon, August 16, 2026, and should be re-verified — particularly the post-mortem findings, forensic note verification, and any subsequent statements from the TMC leadership or the chief minister's office — before republication.

Sources

This article draws on original, police-sourced reporting from IANS, PTI, India TV News, The Week, The Tribune, and Election Commission of India results as compiled by public election-data trackers.

India TV News, “'Entering politics was a mistake': What ex-Bengal Assembly Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee said in suicide note,” Aug. 16, 2026: indiatvnews.com

India TV News, “'Was not involved in corruption': Ex-Bengal Assembly Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee found dead at TMC office,” Aug. 16, 2026: indiatvnews.com

The Week, “Former deputy speaker and Mamata's close aide Asish Banerjee found dead at TMC office,” Aug. 16, 2026: theweek.in

The Tribune, “Mamata aide Asish Banerjee found dead at TMC office,” Aug. 16, 2026: tribuneindia.com

IANS via Prokerala, “Political slugfest erupts over death of ex-Bengal Assembly Dy Speaker, Trinamool seeks independent probe,” Aug. 16, 2026: prokerala.com

IANS (via ANI), “Shame of Bengal's altered politics: TMC leader Kunal Ghosh demands impartial probe into death of ex-Dy Speaker,” Aug. 16, 2026: aninews.in

The Tribune, “Suvendu's aide shot dead; BJP accuses TMC of 'targeted assassination',” May 7, 2026: tribuneindia.com

Wikipedia, “Asish Banerjee,” biographical and electoral record, accessed Aug. 16, 2026: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asish_Banerjee

Wikipedia, “2026 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election,” results and turnout, accessed Aug. 16, 2026: en.wikipedia.org/.../2026_West_Bengal_Legislative_Assembly_election

ISAS (NUS), “West Bengal Assembly Election: Record Turnout Sets Stage for Second Phase,” Apr. 28, 2026: isas.nus.edu.sg