Kolkata: Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) Tehatta MLA Tapas Saha (66) died of a cerebral stroke on Thursday morning at a private hospital on the EM bypass in Kolkata.
Saha suddenly felt unwell at home on Wednesday morning and was first taken to the sub-division hospital where doctors diagnosed a brain stroke. As his condition was critical, he was quickly shifted to a private hospital in Kolkata where he breathed his last at 8:15 am. Saha was suffering from multiple physical problems for a long time and went to Bengaluru recently for treatment. He was allegedly linked to the school recruitment corruption case.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote on X: “I am deeply shocked by the untimely demise of Shri Tapas Saha, the MLA from Tehatta in Nadia, an important member of our Trinamool Congress family. He was my long-time colleague. His passing is an irreparable loss to the politics of the district and Bengal as a whole. I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family, relatives, friends, and countless supporters.”
His body was brought to the Bengal Legislative Assembly around 12.30 pm where TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, state Parliamentary Affairs minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, MP from Krishnanagar, Nadia, Mohua Moitra and others paid their last tribute. His last rites were performed at Palashipara on Thursday evening.
Following the denial of a ticket from Tehatta Constituency in 2021, Saha contested as an independent and was temporarily removed from the party. However, later he was reinstated and was elected from the Palashipara constituency in Nadia as MLA for the first time in 2016 and then in 2021 he won from Tehatta Constituency. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April last year had raided his home to probe his alleged role in the school recruitment corruption case.