Bengal civic polls: Ex-TMC leader loses as Independent, ends life

KALYANI: A 38-year-old rebel Trinamool Congress leader, who fought and lost as an Independent candidate by only 30 votes in Nadia's Cooper's Camp notified area's municipal elections, ended her life consuming 35 different tablets hours after the results were announced on Thursday morning.
Ironically, Supriya Dey - who had been the councillor of Ward No. 1 for 10 years - had sent out feelers to the party hours before her death, hinting that she wanted to rejoin Trinamool Congress.Her husband Samir, who claimed he still was a party worker, alleged that his wife was driven to depression after some party workers threatened and abused them and tried to break-in at their home. He, however, said he would leave it to party leadership to act against the errant workers and would not lodge any police complaint himself.
According to Samir, it was around 8:40am that Supriya learnt she had lost by 30 votes to Trinamool candidate Asoke Sarkar. She reportedly told her husband that she would have won unless for another Independent candidate who queered her pitch by securing 179 votes. Supriya got 320 votes, while Sarkar bagged 350. Samir said the voting-day altercation that she had with a Trinamool Congress agent also weighed on her mind. On Sunday, Surpiya had slapped the agent who objected to an infirm elderly voter who wanted his grandson to cast the vote for him.
She had won in 2007 and 2012 civic polls from the same ward as a Congress candidate. She won the 2012 elections by 189 votes defeating a Trinamool candidate. Her political allegiance was firmly with Shankar Singh, the local Congress strongman. Soon after the 2012 win, she, like the other 12 Congress councillors, shifted to Trinamool Congress. Five years later, on June 21, Singh joined Trinamool. After that, Supriya received her first jolt. She was dropped from the Trinamool Congress list. A defiant Supriya decided to throw in her hat as an Independent.
Samir said, "Around an hour after the results were known on Thursday, 80-100 bike-borne youths moved around in our locality. It was 10am, some (by his count 20-25 men) tried to barge into our home, banging the grille and doors. They abused Supriya. I was scared for our 12-year-old son Soumyadeep. I was with him, when suddenly Supriya went inside. Later, I found she had consumed 35 tablets of blood pressure, sugar, thyroid and even sedatives. I took her to the Kalyani JNM Hospital. She was admitted around 1pm and declared dead around 2:30pm." Soumyadeep, sources said, had come for a day from his Ranaghat boarding school to be with his parents. Krishnakanta Biswas, a family confidante, alleged the party supporters had damaged seven houses and one club in the locality.
Trinamool leaders trooped in the hospital once the news of her death spread. Singh said, "This is very unfortunate." On Samir's allegations, he said, "We will probe it." Dilip Das, a councillor and the party's Cooper's Camp president, said, "We are aware of the allegations. Such behaviour among party workers will not be tolerated. We will investigate into the matter." A post mortem was conducted and the body handed over to Samir and his son at 6 pm for cremation.