Kolkata/Rampurhat: Bristy Mukherjee, the niece of Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, was found dead at her house in Birbhum on Tuesday, the police said.
Mukherjee was found hanging at her home, and the death is being treated as a case of suicide prima facie.
The body of the 28-year-old was recovered from a room on the second floor of her house in Kusumba village in the Rampurhat area of Birbhum in the afternoon, PTI quoted a senior police officer as saying.
Further investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death is underway.
“The body has been sent for post-mortem examination. An investigation is underway. The circumstances leading to the death will be established after the post-mortem and other procedural inquiries,” he said.
Family members said that Bristy, who was reportedly undergoing divorce proceedings at the time of her death, had been suffering from depression for the past few years and was undergoing treatment.
She had lost her job as a non-teaching staff in Bolpur’s Upper Primary School in March 2023. Nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff were sacked because they gained employment “illegally” through favouritism and alleged exchange of cash.
The appointments were struck down by the Calcutta High Court and later the Supreme Court.
Bristy’s father, Nihar Mukherjee, is Mamata Banerjee’s maternal cousin and a local Trinamool Congress leader.
