BJP supporters observe 12-hour bandh in North Bengal over party MLA’s death, vandalise bus in Coochbehar

KOLKATA: Hundreds of BJP workers and supporters observed a bandh on Tuesday in protest against party’s Hemtabad BJP MLA Debendra Nath’s suspicious death on Monday. According to reports, the bandh supporters forcibly stopped and vandalised a government bus belonging to North Bengal Surface Transport Corporation in the Coochbehar district of West Bengal.

The party workers are observing a 12-hour-bandh in the wake of Hemtabad BJP MLA’ssuspicious death.

The MLA was found hanging in Bindal village near his home on Monday morning. 

The bandh supporters pelted stones at the bus, vandalised, flattened the tyre of the bus to prevent it from plying. 

The police, however, reached the spot soon and resorted to a lathicharge to disperse the agitators.

Yesterday, BJP MLA from Hemtabad in North Dinajpur district, Debendra Nath Roy was found hanging from a shop near his house. 

His family alleged that he was killed and then hanged.

The Bharatiya Janata Party had on Monday demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the death of Debendra Nath Roy.

Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh called it a 'cold-blooded murder' which 'is shocking and unfortunate'. He asked for a CBI investigation as the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) 'will not do fair enquiry.' 

"The cold blooded murder of Hemtabad BJP MLA is shocking and unfortunate. We demand a CBI investigation as State Government will not do fair enquiry. We will do protests all across the state...," he tweeted along with a video.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has taken over the investigation of the death of Roy. The family members of the MLA have claimed that he has been killed and hanged later. People of the area also claimed that the BJP MLA was murdered and then hanged. However, police said the cause of death will be ascertained after post mortem. His body was sent to Raigunj hospital for post mortem.

Police have also found a suicide note from the pocket of BJP MLA. The note mentions the names of two persons and reads, “these two people are responsible for my death”. The names are not being shared by the police as their role need to be investigated.