Ex-Bengal dy speaker Ashis Banerjee found dead at TMC office

TMC leader and former West Bengal Assembly Deputy Speaker Ashish Banerjee was found dead on Sunday morning at a Trinamool Congress's office next to his house in Birbhum district's Rampurhat city. Asish Banerjee served as deputy speaker when Trinamool head Mamata Banerjee was chief minister. He  and held ministerial portfolios, including school education and agriculture in the Mamata Banerjee government.He was a five-time MLA from Rampurhat.He lost to BJP's Dhruba Saha in the state election earlier this year.A purported suicide note has also been recovered from the party office and his dead body has been sent for post-mortem examination, police said. The exact circumstances leading to his death are yet to be ascertained.

The exact circumstances leading to the former TMC MLA's death were not immediately clear.He lived in the Hattalapara neighbourhood in Rampurhat. Asish Banerjee had stepped down from the post of chairman of the Trinamool's Birbhum district core committee in June, though he announced he would remain as the party's general member.Party sources said Banerjee had not been particularly active in politics following his electoral defeat.