Mamata Banerjee's niece found hanging: Teacher recruitment scam loses job, was depressed for 2 years

Brishti Mukherjee, the niece of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was found hanging in her house in Kusumba village of Birbhum district on Tuesday. Brishti was Mamata's cousin and daughter of Trinamool leader Nihar Mukherjee. Prima facie, it is believed that she committed suicide. According to media reports, Brishti was a teacher at Bolpur Upper Primary School. She lost her job in 2024 after the teacher recruitment scam came to light. Since then, she has been in depression. In 2024, the High Court cancelled 25,753 jobs The Calcutta High Court on April 22, 2024, cancelled all the 25,753 jobs illegally obtained. At the same time, the court ordered that those who have been working illegally for a long time will have to return their salaries with interest. Recruitment scam: Allegations of taking bribes ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh The West Bengal government had recruited teaching and non-teaching staff for government and aided schools through the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLCT) in 2016. At that time, more than 23 lakh people had taken the recruitment exam for 24,640 vacancies. There are allegations of taking bribes ranging from Rs 5 to 15 lakh in this recruitment. The Calcutta High Court had received many complaints in this regard. The CBI had arrested former state education minister Partha Chatterjee, his close aide Arpita Mukherjee and some SSC officials in connection with irregularities in recruitment. Arpita was a model by profession. The Supreme Court has given relief to about 26,000 sacked teachers in the teacher recruitment scam case in its order on March 17, 2025. The court said that teachers whose appointments have been cancelled can continue to teach till the new selection process is completed. However, his name did not figure in the 2016 scam case. "We don't want the children's education to be hampered by the court's decision.