Folk singer, found hanging in Jalpaiguri. Family suspects he committed suicide as he was extremely worried about documents related to his identity and citizenship.
69-year-old Shahabuddin Mohammed, a Bhawaiya Rajbanshi folk singer, was found hanging from a tree near his home. His family says that Mohammed had been under severe stress due to the NRC.
His nephew Alimul Alam told The Telegraph, “He was depressed as he could not find proper documents related to his land. He would be glued to TV to know about NRC and would often say that if he could not get those documents, his citizenship would be called into question. Some recent remarks of leaders had left him more scared.”
Mohammed also ran a small grocery shop outside his home to make ends meet. He is survived by a son and two daughters.
This suspected suicide is the tenth such case in Bengal and fifth incident in Jalpaiguri alone! But instead of finding a way to offer people assurance, the political leaders are engaged in a blame game. TMC leader Dulal Debnath who is the deputy chief of the Jalpaiguri Zila Parishad blamed the BJP for making statements about the NRC that cause panic among people pushing them to suicide. However, Jalpaiguri BJP chief Debashis Chakraborty dismissed Mohammed’s death as the result of a property dispute.
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