Jhalda, Purulia, April 6 : Panic struck at Baishnab para village in West Bengal’s Purulia district’s Jhalda town on Wednesday with the discovery of the body of Niranjan Baishnab, said to be a key witness in the murder of Congress Councillor Tapan Kandu, even as a 12-hour Jhalda shutdown, called by the opposition Congress, was in progress. When several knocks by a neighbour on the door of Niranjan’s house went unanswered early this morning, a peep from the window by him found that the bachelor Niranjan was hanging by a rope from the ceiling of the room. As the policemen arrived at the spot after being informed, the local people also protested when an alleged suicidal note accused police harassment of him. However, the policemen broke open the door and took the body for postmortem. A hand-written note, purportedly scripted by the deceased, was recovered from the room where his body was found, the police said. In the note, Baishnab claimed that he was under severe stress because of repeated phone calls from the police in connection with the murder of Kandu. “I have been under mental stress since the day I saw Tapan’s death. The scene of his death is coming back to my mind every moment. The mental stress is aggravated by the repeated calls from the police,” said the note. “I had never visited any police station in my life. This is becoming unbearable. I have taken this decision on my own and no one has forced me to take my life,” the letter maintained. Niranjan Baishnab, a close friend of the slain Congress Councillor Tapan Kandu, was with Kandu when the miscreants shot dead Kandu on March 13. The elder brother of Niranjan Baishnab alleged that the police had been harassing his brother since the night Tapan Kandu was murdered. ” Policemen came around 12 in the night and picked up his brother and released him three hours later. In the following morning ( 8am) he was again picked up by the local police and let him free about four hours later. After that the police used to call him on the phone any time for grilling,” he added. ” His fault was that he was with Tapan Kandu in the evening stroll when the miscreants shot dead the politician,” Niranjan Bhainab’s nephew said. He alleged after the death of his uncle, his mobile phone was missing. The bereaved family members also demanded a CBI probe in the death of Niranjan Bhaisnab. He said the whole village people have been in panic since the murder was commiitted because of alleged police excess. PC KK BM