Brishti Mukherjee, the 28-year-old niece of Trinamool Congress supremo and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was found dead at her residence in Birbhum district on Tuesday, September 1. Police are treating the death as a suspected case of suicide, while an investigation is underway to establish the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
Mukherjee was found dead inside her family home in Kusumba village in the Rampurhat area. Her body was subsequently sent to Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital for a post-mortem examination. Police officials said the exact circumstances leading to her death would be established after the post-mortem and other procedural inquiries.
Brishti Mukherjee was the daughter of Nihar Mukherjee, Mamata Banerjee’s maternal cousin and a local Trinamool Congress leader.
According to family members, Mukherjee had reportedly been undergoing treatment for depression for several years. She was also going through divorce proceedings at the time of her death. These circumstances have emerged as part of the initial background being examined by investigators, but police have not yet established a definitive reason for the death.
Mukherjee had also lost her job as a non-teaching staff member at Bolpur Upper Primary School following the cancellation of appointments in West Bengal’s government-aided schools in the recruitment scam case. Nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching appointments were scrapped after court proceedings over alleged irregularities in the recruitment process in the state.
With the investigation still in its early stages, authorities are expected to examine all relevant circumstances before concluding the cause and circumstances of her death.
