Kolkata, March 23: Kanu Sanyal, one of the original Naxalbari revolutionaries (and considered a legend along with comrade-in-arms Charu Mazumdar), is believed to have committed suicide at his hut-cum-party office at North Bengal’s Naxalbari village on Tuesday morning.

Sanyal, 81, was suffering from a number of ailments and had been depressed of late, but the ultra-left fraternity both in West Bengal and elsewhere in India were left surprised at this “abrupt ending of his life”. The police appears almost certain that he committed suicide, but it has not been able to establish the probable cause.
“It may be that (having once been) a very powerful political personality... (he) was not getting enough attention or perhaps was not happy with the present killings of innocent people by Maoists, as he had told an English newspaper sometime ago,” said IG (North Bengal) Kundal Lal Tamta.

Age Correspondents