Mamata Banerjee's niece found dead in suspected suicide amid SSC job-loss fallout

Brishti Mukhopadhyay, a relative of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was found dead at her family's home in Kusumba village, in Birbhum's Rampurhat-I block, on Tuesday morning. The 28-year-old had been living at the house for the past few months. She was the daughter of Nihar Mukhopadhyay, a Trinamool Congress leader and Banerjee's maternal cousin.

Police said family members grew worried when Brishti didn't respond to repeated calls this morning. After they were unable to rouse her, they contacted the police, who broke open her door and found her hanging inside the room. Her body has been sent to Rampurhat Medical College and Hospital for a post-mortem. Investigators say they haven't yet established the exact circumstances of her death, and no official finding of suicide has been made, that will depend on the autopsy and further inquiry.

Relatives say Brishti had battled depression for several years, and had been receiving treatment. Her marriage had also fallen apart; divorce proceedings were underway, and she had moved back into her parents' home, bringing her child with her. Brishti's name had also come up in connection with West Bengal's School Service Commission recruitment scandal. She had once held a Group C non-teaching post at Bolpur High School, and her appointment was among those later declared invalid when the courts stepped in.

Her family has long insisted she worked just a single day in the role and never drew a salary, saying she was unwell at the time and had asked to step down herself. Opposition leaders have told a different story, alleging her appointment came through political connections tied to her family's ties with the ruling TMC- a claim that has fed into the broader political fight over the recruitment case.

Brishti's death comes against the backdrop of a scandal that has consumed West Bengal politics for years, the 2016 recruitment drive for teaching and non-teaching government school posts, which collapsed under allegations of large-scale corruption. The Calcutta High Court scrapped the entire recruitment panel, a decision the Supreme Court later upheld, leaving thousands of appointees, teachers and staff alike-without jobs. The fallout has also reached the top of the state's political establishment: former education minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested and remains under prosecution over alleged irregularities.

The Supreme Court has since ordered the state to work out a process for identifying which candidates were genuinely eligible. Kusumba isn't just where Brishti's family lives- it's a place with personal meaning for Mamata Banerjee herself. Her maternal uncle's house stands in the village, and she has spoken before about childhood memories there. Brishti's father, Nihar, is the son of that uncle, Anil Mukhopadhyay.

What led to Brishti's death is still being pieced together. Police say the post-mortem report should help clarify the cause, even as they continue examining what happened in the hours before she died.