Sanjay Das, the Trinamool councillor of Ward No. 18 of South Dum Dum Municipality, was found hanging at his Nagerbazar home on Saturday.

Das, in his early 50s, was known to be close to former Trinamool MLA from Rajarhat-Gopalpur, Debraj Chakraborty.

Aditi Munshi, Chakra borty’s wife, who contested the Rajarhat-Gopalpur seat on a Trinamool ticket this time and lost, rushed to a private hospital where Das was taken after he was found hanging from the ceiling of his house.

Das was the chairman-in-council (CIC) of the civic body and was in charge of hospital management, family welfare, sports and youth affairs.

Some of Das’s family members said he had appeared to be under stress over the past few days following a series of arrests, beginning with that of Sujit Bose, who had served as vice-chairman of South Dum Dum Municipality between 2010 and 2021.

While the Enforcement Directorate arrested Bose, Bidhannagar police recently arrested Samaresh Chakraborty and Amit Chakraborty, both believed to be close to Trinamool leader and Bidhannagar municipal councillor Debraj Chakraborty.

Police said no suicide note had been found, though preliminary findings suggested that Das had died by suicide. A case of unnatural death has been registered.

Senior officers said they were awaiting the post-mortem report.

“We will collect all necessary information, examine CCTV footage and scan his call records to find out whether there was any provocation,” a senior police officer said.

Some of his neighbours in Nagerbazar said notices had been pasted on his house by unidentified persons a few days ago. Written in Bengali, the notices allegedly ordered Das to return money he had purportedly collected.

The notices also accused him of forcibly occupying land by assaulting and intimidating owners, and demanded that the land be returned.

“Sanjay had told some leaders, now with the BJP, who had demanded ₹10 lakh from him, to accept ₹10,000 initially. Those demanding the money from Sanjay were once Trinamool supporters,” alleged a senior Trinamool leader from Nagerbazar, who did not wish to be named.

Tarunjyoti Tewari, the newly elected BJP MLA from Rajarhat-Gopalpur, said that he was saddened by news. However, he did not believe it to be “a simple case of suicide”.

“Sanjay Das was not a saint and was known to be closely linked to several local political and administrative developments. It is also ~widely discussed that he may have known about various illegal activities and local power structures,” Tewari wrote in a social media post.

“In recent days, multiple close associates of Debraj Chakraborty have faced legal action and arrests. Given this background, every possible angle — including abetment, pressure, coercion, external influence and all surrounding circumstances — must be examined,” he said.