BJP claims slain author to be 'party member', family denies

KOLKATA: The West Bengal unit of BJP today claimed that author Sushmita Banerjee, who was shot dead in Afghanistan by Taliban militants, was a "party member", but her family members said she was never associated with any political outfit.

A BJP press release said the party's women's wing held a mass meeting here in protest against the killing of "party member Sushmita Banerjee in Afghanistan by Islamic fundamentalists".

When contacted, Sushmita's brother Gopal Banerjee, however, said, "She was never a member of any political party."

Sushmita Banerjee, whose memoir 'Kabuliwalar Bangali Bou' (A Kabuliwala's Bengali Wife) about her dramatic escape from the clutches of the Taliban was turned into a Bollywood film, was killed outside her home in eastern Paktika province on September 4 by the militants.

She was married to Afghan businessman Jaanbaz Khan and recently moved back to Afghanistan to live with him.