North Barrackpore Municipality vice-chairman found dead; letter suggests ‘suicide’ amid blackmail allegations

Kolkata: Satyajit Banerjee, vice-chairman of North Barrackpore Municipality, was found hanging by a rope in the attic of his rented home on Saturday morning under mysterious circumstances.

Banerjee had reportedly been missing since Friday night. The body was recovered and sent for a postmortem. According to police officials, the two-and-a-half-page letter found beside Banerjee’s body is being treated as a suicide note.

Sources indicate that the letter suggests Banerjee may have been blackmailed over a video footage. The letter reportedly mentions four names, and an investigation by the police is underway.

Satyajit Banerjee, who had been a councillor for a long time, had held the position of Vice-chairman of North Barrackpore Municipality since August 2021. He lived in the Anandamath area. His original home was under construction, and he and his family were living in a rented house where his body was found. Family members and local Trinamool Congress members said Banerjee had been missing since early Friday morning, and his phone was switched off. He returned home sometime on Friday night, and left shortly afterward leaving his phone at home. He returned late at night, and his body was found on Saturday morning.

The family of the deceased claimed that two of the four people named in the letter are known to them. They alleged that a woman named in the letter blackmailed Banerjee and took lakhs of rupees.

The police will investigate whether the video in question is genuine or not.