Mukul Roy, a senior politician from West Bengal and former Union Railway Minister, died on Monday at the age of 73. He had been suffering from various health problems for the past few years and died of cardiac arrest at Apollo Hospital in Salt Lake, Kolkata, at around 1:30 am. His death was confirmed by his son, Subhranshu Roy. Mukul Roy was a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Krishnanagar Uttar and was elected twice to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal.
Who Was Mukul Roy?
Born on 17 April 1954, Mukul Roy was a leading political personality from West Bengal. He was known as the “Chanakya of Bengal politics” because he was a brilliant strategist and one of the founding members of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). He was always considered the second-in-command of the TMC after Mamata Banerjee.
Mukul Roy hailed from a family where his father, Hari Dev Kaushal, was a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police in Delhi, who died in 2019, and his mother, Anup Kaushal, was a teacher. He had three siblings, with his brother, Rahul Dev, being a popular actor and model in Bollywood and South Indian cinema, and his sister Rashmi Kaushal. Mukul Roy was earlier married to Shilpa Dev, and the couple separated in 2005. They had a daughter named Sia (or Siya) Dev, born around 2002-2003.
Rise of Mukul Roy in the Trinamool Congress
Mukul Roy was one of the main strategists of the TMC and was instrumental in the party’s victory in the 2011 West Bengal Assembly election, which brought an end to 34 years of Left Front rule. He was a very close confidant of Mamata Banerjee and was the second-most powerful leader during the early years of the TMC.
Mukul Roy was the Union Railway Minister in 2012 for a brief period in the UPA-II government headed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, succeeding Dinesh Trivedi in a controversy over railway fare hikes. His tenure as the Union Railway Minister lasted from March to September 2012.
Mukul Roy, a founding member of the TMC, was stripped of his position as the national general secretary of the TMC in February 2015, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in November 2017, became the National Vice President of the BJP in 2020, and later rejoined the TMC on June 11, 2021.
Mukul Roy Political Career
TMC Architect: Played a crucial role in the 2011 Assembly election victory, marking the end of decades of Left Front rule in West Bengal. Union Minister: Held the position of Minister of State for Shipping (2009-2011) and subsequently became the 32nd Union Railway Minister (March-September 2012).
Mukul Roy Net Worth
His recent election affidavit showed his net worth to be ₹50.85 lakhs.
Mukul Roy Controversies and Political Moves
Mukul Roy was embroiled in a controversy during the Narada sting operation scandal, which resulted in his expulsion from TMC in 2017. After joining the BJP, he coordinated election campaigns in West Bengal but retired from active politics in 2021 due to health issues. Mukul Roy rejoined TMC in August 2021, in the presence of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, after the 2021 Assembly elections, resulting in anti-defection proceedings.
In January 2026, the Supreme Court of India stayed an order by the Calcutta High Court that had disqualified him as an MLA. Chief Justice Surya Kant observed that electronic evidence of defection required appropriate examination and could not be relied upon on the basis of probability.
Cause of Death of TMC Leader Mukul Roy
Former Railway Minister and senior Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy died at the age of 71 years due to a massive heart attack on February 23, 2026. Prior to his death, Roy had been suffering from various chronic ailments, including dementia and other neurological problems, for which he had undergone brain surgery for hydrocephalus in 2023. In July 2024, he had suffered a head injury due to a fall at his home, because of which he had developed a blood clot that required surgery. Apart from this, Roy was also suffering from diabetes and other age-related problems, which had kept him away from active politics since 2022.
Mukul Roy had largely stayed away from active politics in his latter life due to his poor health. In early 2023, doctors confirmed that he was suffering from dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
