Author: Express News Service
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: November 23, 2011
URL:   http://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/web/explain-burning-of-files-nehru-memorial-chief-to-exdirector/lite/

Stating that certain files were burnt during the tenure of Prof Mridula Mukherjee and with her consent as per the deposition made by the staff in a preliminary inquiry

Stating that certain files were burnt during the tenure of Prof Mridula Mukherjee and with her consent as per the deposition made by the staff in a preliminary inquiry by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML),Prof Mahesh Rangarajan, the director, has asked the former in charge to explain why the documents were disposed of thus.

In a letter, dated November 17,to Mukherjee, Rangarajan has said, It has been brought to the notice of the authorities at the NMML by a safai karamchari that a large number of files were burnt inside the Teen Murti House Campus on the afternoon of August 9, 2011. Terming this serious and sensitive matter”, a preliminary inquiry was conducted and a number of people, including safai karamcharis who carried out the act of burning the files, were questioned, the letter states. These members gave written statements, including one by Monica Jain, Mukherjees private secretary, who has said that from July onwards, she had undertaken the task of separating Mukherjees personal documents from official material of the NMML, as per the former directors instructions. When certain documents were placed before Mukherjee, she directed that those should be discarded.