Trinamool councillor Sanjay Das found hanging at Kolkata home

KOLKATA: Cops on Saturday recovered the body of South Dum Dum Municipality Trinamool councillor Sanjay Das (49) from his home, with preliminary probe pointing to suicide.

It was not immediately known whether the death was in any way linked to the ongoing probes into civic corruption and extortion allegations and the arrests of several Trinamool councillors over the past few days, but Das's family members and neighbours said he was under severe stress since a banner came up outside his house accusing him of land-grab and extortion.

Das, councillor of ward no. 18 and chairman-in-council (CIC) member (health) of South Dum Dum Municipality, was found hanging in his flat in a multi-storey building on Gorakshabasi Road near Nagerbazar where he lived with his wife, teenage son and 6-year-old daughter. The body was spotted by his son. He was taken by cops to a nearby private hospital at 8.18 am but declared dead on arrival.

Das was a close aide of Bidhannagar MMIC Debraj Chakraborty, husband of former Trinamool Rajarhat-Gopalpur MLA Aditi Munshi. Following the arrest of former fire minister Sujit Bose in the municipal recruitment scam, Chakraborty and his aides have come under the scanner. Three councillors close to Chakraborty and two close to Sujit Bose have been arrested by ED in the past few days. Both Chakraborty and his wife moved Calcutta High Court on Thursday seeking anticipatory bail in a disproportionate assets case filed by Bidhannagar police.

Beleghata MLA and Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said targeted trolling and blackmailing could have led Das to die by suicide.

'No complaint, probe, summons against Das'

Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, "Some banners had come up in the area accusing him of being an extortionist and being involved in scams. Two persons who were mentioned as having been cheated said the claims were false. But some people were pestering and blackmailing him to pay up or they would go to police and send him to jail. This had left him and his family jittery."

Ghosh added that Das continued to resist the blackmailers. He even went to see East Bengal's last ISL match on Thursday and celebrated the victory. "On Saturday, his family saw him getting ready for morning exercise and then this happened. I don't know what happened or who blackmailed him, but this should be thoroughly probed," he said.

Leader of opposition and Trinamool's Ballygunge MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, too, visited Das's home. "There were no complaints against Das, no summons, and no agency investigation was underway against him," he said. Chairman of South Dum Dum Municipality, Kasturi Chowdhury, held a protest outside the hospital demanding an immediate probe.

Cops said an unnatural death case had been initiated and they were yet to receive any complaint. No suicide note had been found.