File photo of former Union Railway Minister Mukul Roy.
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
Veteran politician and former Railway Minister Mukul Roy died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Kolkata on Monday (February 23, 2026), his family said.
He was 71.
Mr. Roy breathed his last at 1.30 a.m. at the private hospital, his son Subhranshu Roy said, adding that he had been in a coma for the last several days.
Mr. Roy was a founder member of TMC when the party was formed in 1998. Before the creation of Trinamool Congress, Mr. Roy was the member of the Congress.
Later, following differences with the party, he joined the BJP in 2017. Mr. Roy resigned from Rajya Sabha membership on October 11, 2017.
Mr. Roy became an MLA from Krishnanagar Uttar constituency in the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls on a BJP ticket, but returned to the TMC after the polls. He rejoined TMC on June 11, 2021 along with his son in the presence of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.
During his long political career, he served as the Railway Minister in 2011 in the UPA-2 government, when the TMC was part of the Centre. When TMC chief Mamata Banerjee resigned as Railway Minister to become West Bengal CM, Mr. Roy was handed additional charge of the Ministry of Railways.
He was elected twice to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal.
On June 25, 2021, he was elected as a member of PAC by the West Bengal Speaker and later became the chairman of the PAC on July 14, 2021
Mr. Roy did his BSc from University of Calcutta and also earned M.A. degree in public administration from Madurai Kamaraj University in 2006.
(With inputs from PTI)
Published – February 23, 2026 09:11 am IST
