Jalpaiguri: The former vice chairperson of Jalpaiguri municipality and her husband died in their home under mysterious condition. Locals alleged that the deceased couple committed suicide by consuming pesticides. They took the deceased to a hospital, where doctors declared them dead. Investigating officers said they were probing as to whether the couple actually committed suicide or were murdered.
The deceased couple, identified as Aparna Bhattacharya and Subodh Bhattacharya, were residents of Jalpaiguri's Pandapara Road. Aparna served as the vice-chairperson of the municipality from 2000 to 2002 as a Forward Block councillor. She later joined the Trinamool Congress and was recently working in the Childline of the Jalpaiguri Welfare Organisation. Her husband, Subodh too was a member of the Jalpaiguri Child Welfare Committee in the past and played a key role in unearthing the Jalpaiguri child trafficking case. It was after Subodh drew attention of the District Magistrate and lodged complaints at various places, that CID arrested Bimala Shishu Grisha leader Chandana Chakraborty along with District Child Protection Officers in connection with the child trafficking case.
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Of late, the couple had married off their daughter in an extravagant manner. Police are investigating whether they were currently under any financial stress or were disturbed over their daughter's marital life. Manindranath Roy, councilor of ward number 12 of Jalpaiguri municipality, said: "The couple committed suicide at home. Nobody knows why they took such a drastic step." Local resident and former councilor Narayan Sarkar said they learnt about the incident this morning and took the couple to the super specialty hospital. Police officer in-charge Arghya Sarkar said investigation is underway and the actual cause of death will be known only after getting the post-mortem report.
