The newly-appointed Purulia Superintendent of Police (SP) Akash Magharia on Sunday said that Dulal Kumar, whose body was found hanging from a power transmission tower, had committed suicide.

Kumar, who BJP claimed as its party worker, was found hanging from a power transmission tower near the fields in Dava village under Balarampur police station on Saturday morning.

A team of five doctors conducted the post-mortem of Kumar’s body, said Magharia, while adding that the post-mortem report found that it was a case of asphyxia due to ante-mortem hanging and suicidal in nature.

Kumar’s death comes three days after the body of another man, Trilochon Mahato (20), who the BJP said was a member of its youth wing, was found hanging from a tree.

An unsigned, hand-written note found near Mahato’s body had stated that he was “punished for working for the BJP” during the recent rural polls in the state. However, no such note was found in Kumar’s case, former SP Biswas had said on Saturday.

Earlier, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal had replaced Joy Biswas as the SP of the district and appointed Magharia in his place, following the two back-to-back incidents.

Bandh called by BJP

Earlier, the saffron party also called a 12-hour bandh to protest the alleged murders of Mahato and Kumar.

The bandh which began at 6 am, saw BJP supporters install road blockades and prevented goods vehicles from plying on national highways at different places in the district. While Balarampur, where the two incidents have occurred, wore a deserted look as the locals largely stayed indoors.

However, the Purulia District Magistrate (DM) Alokesh Prasad Roy dismissed any bandh like situations, he said that it is appearing like a bandh since today is Sunday and everything is closed.

Buses and other vehicles are plying like any other weekend. No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere in the district, he added.

BJP-TMC spar over deaths

The alleged killings have triggered another round of face-off between the TMC and the BJP, which has emerged as a formidable challenger to the ruling party in the state after last month’s panchayat polls.

The BJP has alleged both the deaths are “political murders” and demanded a CBI inquiry into the incidents.

Kumar’s death had outraged the locals, who had protested outside the Balarampur police station on Saturday.

“Distressed to know about yet another killing of BJP karyakarta Dulal Kumar in Balrampur, West Bengal. This continued brutality and violence in the land of West Bengal is shameful and inhuman. Mamata Banerjee’s govt has completely failed to maintain law and order in the state,” BJP president Amit Shah had tweeted on Saturday.

Union Minister Babul Supriyo had blamed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her government for the “violent situation” in the state.

“The only medicine for the malady is invoking Article 356 in the state. How we can go about it, you will see in the coming days. You will see a very strong action soon.”

TMC Rajya Sabha member Derek O’ Brien had condemned the killings and demanded a detailed probe into them. He had, however, not ruled out the involvement of the BJP, the Bajrang Dal or Maoists in the incidents.

“We strongly condemn this despicable killing. All angles must be probed. The perpetrators of this heinous act must be punished. What role did Jharkhand border have to play? What elements of Bajrang Dal, Maoist or BJP involved. Let the truth be found out through proper investigation (sic),” he had tweeted yesterday after Kumar’s body was found.

The West Bengal government has ordered a CID probe into Mahato’s killing.

Purulia district saw a close fight between the TMC and the BJP in the recent gram panchayat (GP) elections, with the two parties winning 839 and 645 GP seats, respectively. Out of the 38 zilla parishad seats, the Trinamool won 26 seats against the BJP’s tally of nine.

(With agency inputs)