Opposition slams Trinamool over Kunal's suicide bid

West Bengal's opposition parties and legal luminaries Friday slammed the Mamata Banerjee administration for the reported suicide attempt by suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh, saying the state government wants the Rajya Sabha member to die as he was a principal witness in the Saradha chit fund scam.

State BJP president Rahul Sinha said those in power want to "finish off" Ghosh by any means.

"So they thought when he had declared his intention to commit suicide, they should not keep him under close observation. Had he managed to take his own life, those involved in the scam would have felt relieved," said Sinha.

Leader of the opposition and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Surjya Kanta Mishra said the government would have to take full responsibility if anything happened to Kunal.

Ghosh, who headed the Saradha media arm before being arrested in November last year, has been alleging the involvement of several leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress, including its top brass, in the scam.

Ghosh, lodged in the Presidency Jail, Nov 10 threatened to commit suicide if others involved in the swindle were not arrested within three days.

Hospitalised in the wee hours of Friday after he complained of feeling unwell, Ghosh is now said to be stable in the critical care unit of the state-run SSKM Hospital.

"If these matters are probed properly, big fish would be caught. So there is a lot of apprehension that to save their own skins they may try to silence him," said Mishra.

State Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said Ghosh had announced in advance in the open court what he planned to do. "He hasn't done anything suddenly," he said.

"He managed to make a suicide attempt because the administration did not bother to remain vigilant even after his threat. Had Kunal succeeded in his attempt, the Trinamool Congress would have been the happiest."

Another Congress leader Abdul Mannan claimed that the state government was involved in the "conspiracy".

Former Tripura advocate general Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said "somebody" may have provoked Ghosh as he is the most important witness against those involved in the Saradha scam. "Otherwise, how did he get the pills?"

Echoing Bhattacharya, another leading lawyer Arunava Ghosh said the administration was at "fault". "Why did they not increase the vigil on him? Who supplied the sedatives?," he asked.

Ghosh is suspected to have consumed 30-40 tablets of a well known sedative.