Former Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mukul Roy has died. He died of cardiac arrest at Apollo Hospital in Salt Lake City, Kolkata, around 1:30 am on Monday, his family confirmed.
Roy served as Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping and then the Ministry of Railways during the second United Progressive Alliance government led by Manmohan Singh.
On Roy’s death, BJP leader Dilip Ghosh described him as an experienced politician, saying he had been ill for the last two-three years and could not actively participate in politics.
“He was an experienced politician. He became a Union minister as well. When he came to the BJP, he got a lot of respect. From 2019 to 2021, he was with us. Later, he left the BJP and went to the TMC. For the last two-three years, he was ill and could not actively participate in politics,” Ghosh said while talking to ANI. I pray that his soul rests in peace…”
Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, also extended his condolences on Roy’s death and wrote on
Mukul Roy, who was elected as a BJP MLA in May 2021, allegedly joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in August 2021 after the Assembly elections, in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
Before setting up TMC, he was a member of Congress.
Roy was fighting a legal battle over his disqualification from the state legislature after defecting from the TMC.
In January, the Supreme Court stayed an order by the Calcutta High Court disqualifying Roy from the state Assembly.
During the hearing in the Supreme Court, advocate Pratika Dwivedi, who appeared on behalf of petitioner Shubranshu Roy – Mukul Roy’s son – submitted that the Speaker had dismissed the disqualification petitions because the social media posts relied upon to prove defection were not authenticated under Section 65B of the Evidence Act.
It added that the Supreme Court overturned this finding by holding that strict adherence to Section 65B was unnecessary in proceedings under the Tenth Schedule.
Senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal, appearing for Suvendu Adhikari and Ambika Roy, contended that Mukul Roy contested the elections on a BJP ticket and later openly joined another party, the Trinamool Congress, clearly calling for disqualification on account of defection.
However, the Supreme Court granted interim relief to Roy and stayed the High Court’s order disqualifying him for mutual legal assistance.
