Elderly man dies due to cardiac arrest during SIR hearing, kin allege ‘excessive stress’

Mondal was waiting in a long queue in front of the BDO office when he suddenly fell ill. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

A 75-year-old man died due to cardiac arrest while attending a hearing related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Birbhum district on Saturday morning.

The deceased, identified as Kanchan Kumar Mondal, had received a notice for an SIR hearing and accordingly appeared at the Rampurhat-1 Block Office along with his wife.

According to locals, Mondal arrived at the hearing center earlier in the day with all the documents asked from him. He was waiting in a long queue in front of the BDO office when he suddenly fell ill. Those present rushed to his rescue and called for help. As there was a delay, the BDO provided his vehicle. Kanchan was taken to Rampurhat Government Medical College where doctors declared him dead.

According to hospital sources, Mondal died due to cardiac arrest. However, his wife and family alleged that he had fallen ill due to excessive stress related to the SIR process, and they held the Election Commission responsible for his death. A similar allegation has also been made by the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Lashing out at the BJP-led Centre over the SIR drive and subsequent deletion of names of some voters, Trinamool Congress MLA Asish Banerjee said, “People are being targeted for speaking Bengali. We saw what happened to Sonali Biwi, she and her family were pushed back to Bangladesh. This is what they (Centre) are doing. But justice will prevail.”

Hitting back, BJP Birbhum district president Uday Shankar Banerjee said, “It really does not matter what the TMC says as the ECI is an independent agency and they are doing their job.”

A similar incident occurred in Howrah on Friday. An elderly man, Madan Ghosh, died due to cardiac arrest while attending a SIR-related hearing at the Bally Jagacha Block Office in Domjur.