West Bengal: TMC leader arrested after school headmaster reportedly dies by suicide

A Trinamool Congress leader has been arrested after the death of a school headmaster, reportedly by suicide, in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, according to The Indian Express.

Ujjal Singha Ray, headmaster at Raninagar Sheikhpara Babultali Khalilur Rahman High School in Domkal in the district, was believed to have died by suicide on Wednesday.

Unidentified police officers told the newspaper that Ainul Haque, a Trinamool Congress panchayat samiti member, had allegedly threatened to frame Ujjwal Singha Ray in a corruption case and demanded Rs 35 lakh from him.

Haque is also chairperson of the management committee at the school.

The Trinamool Congress leader was arrested on Friday based on a complaint filed by Ujjwal Singha Ray’s wife, Polly Singha Ray, The Telegraph reported. In her complaint, Polly Singha Ray alleged that her husband could not bear the stress after Haque’s threats and took his own life.

“The TMC leader and his associates are trying to introduce corrupt practices in the school,” The Indian Express quoted her as saying in the complaint. “My husband opposed that.”

She added that Haque and his associates threatened the headmaster, saying that he would be framed for corruption in the mid-day meal scheme and demanded Rs 35 lakh from him. “Following that, he struggled to carry on with the humiliation and died by suicide,”...

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