Singur, Dec. 2: A sharecrop- per who had apparently lost work after nearly 1,000 acres were acquired for Tata Motors hanged himself today.

Bholanath Patra’s wife Shyamali said the family had six cottahs outside the factory site, but that was too little. “After he lost his job, we found it difficult to arrange two square meals a day. He started working in a cold storage unit but his health began to fail,” said Shyamali, a mother of two in Bajemelia.

Hooghly superintendent of police Rajeev Mishra said the 42-year-old farmer “was suffering from depression because of failing health”.

Bholanath was a Save Farmland Committee member during the height of the anti-Tata agitation. “Around noon, he locked himself in the bathroom. When he did not come out even after repeated knocking, I called villagers,” said Shyamali.

Mamata crop

Mamata Banerjee told a rally in Singur today that the Save Farmland Committee would cultivate paddy on the land acquired for the Tatas.