A 57-year-old man died by suicide on Tuesday in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, a day after the Election Commission announced the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state.
In his "final note," the man identified as Pradeep Kar blamed anxiety over the voter roll revisions and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for his decision.
According to police, Kar's body was found hanging in his room in the Agarpara apartment in Khardah on Tuesday morning.
A diary was found in the room, and one of its pages reportedly contained a suicide note in which Kar blamed the NRC for causing anxiety, which led him to take his life, PTI reported, citing police sources. The note contained Kar's name and address along with references to NRC.
The handwriting on the note, however, is now under forensic examination to verify its authenticity, according to police. The police have also not officially confirmed its contents.
Meanwhile, the sister-in-law of the deceased has filed a complaint alleging that Kar was "mentally disturbed" after the announcement of the voter list revision, which he reportedly linked to the NRC.
"The deceased's family has lodged a written complaint at Khardah Police Station, alleging abetment of suicide against unknown persons," a senior police officer said.
According to police sources, after dinner on Monday night, Kar went to bed in his room and did not respond to repeated calls the next morning.
When the door remained locked from inside, his family members alerted neighbours and later informed the police, who broke open the door and found his body hanging, the police sources said.
Kar's death has triggered a fresh political storm in West Bengal, with the ruling Trinamool Congress blaming the Centre's National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise for creating "panic and fear" among citizens.
"This is what happens when the BJP plays politics of fear. The NRC has already killed people in Assam, and now its ghost is haunting Bengal," a senior TMC leader said.
The BJP, however, dismissed the allegations, terming the suicide note "suspicious."
"Some people are trying to politicise a personal tragedy. We have serious doubts whether the suicide note is genuine, given that Kar reportedly studied till Class 3 and did not have fingers on four of his right-hand digits," BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said.
He claimed that there is no evidence that he could write with his left hand.
"Let there be a forensic probe by a central lab under the supervision of the court. The truth will come out," said the leader of the opposition in the assembly.
(With inputs from PTI)
