Opposition parties in West Bengal attacked the Trinamool Congress government for not taking adequate steps to guard jailed Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh who on Friday allegedly acted on a suicide threat he had issued this week.
Ghosh, who was suspended by the Trinamool when he was accused of being involved in the multi-crore Saradha scam, was hospitalised after being found unconscious in his cell, but doctors said his condition was stable.
"Ghosh has been saying for a while that he will commit suicide. Why did the jail authorities fail to take proper steps to prevent this? We feel there is a conspiracy behind the incident. There should be an independent probe into all this," said Siddharth Nath Singh, national secretary of BJP.
The ruling Trinamool has been pushed to a corner by opposition parties this year over a slew of controversies - from the Saradha scam to the unearthing of a growing terror network in the state following the Burdwan blast.
The Mamata Banerjee-led ruling party is fighting hard to shake off the setbacks with polls to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and 81 other civic bodies in the state scheduled for early next year.
{{/usCountry}}The Mamata Banerjee-led ruling party is fighting hard to shake off the setbacks with polls to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and 81 other civic bodies in the state scheduled for early next year.
{{/usCountry}}Opposition leaders said the incident raised a number of questions and Ghosh's death would benefit several Trinamool Congress members whom he named while being questioned by investigators.
"How did so many sleeping pills reach Ghosh in a high-security cell? Why was he under mental and physical pressure, which his lawyer mentioned in court a few days ago?" said Abdul Mannan, a senior state Congress leader.
CPI(M) Lok Sabha MP Mohammed Salim said the time had come to ask the Supreme Court to monitor the CBI investigation into the Saradha scam.
"Ghosh has been shouting out names of TMC leaders who are yet to be interrogated. I think now one should appeal to the apex court for day-to-day monitoring of the probe," he said.