The head of the state women’s commission, also a senior official of the house producing the TV serial Rahul Arunoday Banerjee was shooting for at the time of his death, has expressed her intent to step down from the commission’s top seat to ensure an unbiased probe into the actor’s death.

Leena Gangopadhyay, the creative head of Magic Moments Motion Pictures, is also the chairperson of the West Bengal Women’s Commission.

“Leena is willing to step down from her position as chairperson (of the women’s commission) so that no perception of bias affects Rahul’s investigation and so that she doesn’t relinquish her responsibilities in the matter,” said a statement from the house.

Gangopadhyay did not respond to calls and messages from Metro.

“Leena has been associated with the company since 2010 as a writer and creative head. She joined the board in 2011. However, she isn’t a promoter or operational executive. Her role has always been limited to creative responsibilities... She has always been credited as the writer of our shows until very recent times when she was allotted very minute equity and a co-producer’s credit,” the company said.

“We understand these assumptions may arise because of Leena’s role as chairperson of the West Bengal Women’s Commission,” it said before announcing Gangopadhyay’s willingness to step down.

Rahul is believed to have died trying to save a female co-actor who had slipped and fallen into a depression on an uneven Talsari beach while they were shooting on Sunday afternoon.

Rahul’s postmortem has revealed that his lungs were inflated with a large quantity of sand and saline water.

After the two fell into the water, the co-actor was quickly rescued, but it took a while to pull out Rahul.

The 42-year-old actor, writer and podcast host was rushed to the Digha State General Hospital, 11km from Talsari, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

The production house said it had permission for the shoot.

“Many speculations have been circulating in the media and among the public regarding the intimation and permission from the federation or local authorities. We would like to assure you that all our communications, permissions, and received documents will be furnished to the authorities,” it said.