The hanging body of a 52-year-old man was recovered at his home in Alipurduar, raising concerns about stress related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. The deceased has been identified as Nripen Ghosh, a sweet seller from Badaitari in Chhoto Shalkumar gram panchayat under Phalakata police station.
Nripen was found hanging at his residence on Sunday evening. He was rushed to Phalakata Super Speciality Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
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Local sources said Nripen had moved from Assam to Badaitari 28 years ago and had been residing in Bengal since then. He was scheduled to attend a SIR hearing on January 6 but was reportedly distressed after discovering that his name had been dropped from the draft voter list. According to his wife, Jyotsna Ghosh, âHe was devastated after his name was dropped from the draft list. I tried to console him, but when I returned home, I never imagined such a tragedy. He died in panic.â
Nripenâs family has stated that his name was not listed in the 2002 SIR list.
The incident has sparked political reactions in the area. Phalakata Panchayat Samiti president Subhashchandra Roy said, âThe innocent man had to lose his life because of the Election Commission and BJP. We have stood by the family.â
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Phalakata BJP MLA Dipak Barman, however, claimed the allegations to be wrong. âAny death is sad, but the talk of death due to SIR panic is not correct. We have learned that the person was suffering from financial distress,â he said.
Phalakata police station IC Prashanta Biswas confirmed that an unnatural death case has been registered and the body has been sent for post-mortem.
