A 28-year-old niece of niece of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was found dead at her residence in Birbhum district on Tuesday, September 1, in what is suspected to be a suicide precipitated by depression due to the loss of her job as a non-teaching staffer.
The body of Bristy Mukherjee was found hanging on the first floor of her house at Kusumba village in Rampurhat at 9 am, said police. This death comes a fortnight after the alleged suicide of former West Bengal Assembly Deputy Speaker and five-time Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Ashish Banerjee, 74. He was found hanging at the party office in Rampurhat on Sunday, August 16.
Bristy Mukherjee was one of the 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff members who were laid off after an investigation was made into the teachers’ recruitment process, which faced allegations that many had obtained their jobs illegally, through bias or bribing with cash. Mukherjee was employed as non-teaching staffer at an upper primary school in Bolpur.
According to reports, Bristy Mukherjee’s name was listed in the 608th position among those who were dismissed following Calcutta High Court’s order, which was later confirmed by Supreme Court of India.
According to a report by The Telegraph newspaper, Bristy Mukherjee was feeling depressed after the court’s decision in the case related to the alleged teacher recruitment scam. She was also going through the process of divorce with her husband, which could have also added to her mental situation. The family however said that she was receiving treatment for her condition.
Her body was sent to Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital for a post-mortem examination. Her family claimed it was a suicide, which is also the police’s first assumption, leading them to file a case of unnatural death.
“More details will surface after the post-mortem examinations are completed. We are carrying out investigations and questioning the family members of the victim,” said a police official involved in the ongoing probe.
