How a receptionist became director?

Her three year journey to the corner office was nothing less than 'miraculous'

It would be only fair if Debjani Mukherjee's journey from receptionist to the post of the director at Saradha Realty is termed as ‘miraculous’. In a short span of time, three years to be specific, Mukherjee notched up the corporate ladder and acquired the corner office.

Debjani was very close to group Chairman & Managing Director Sudipta Sen and it was the latter’s strong inclination towards Mukherjee, which paved the way for her to the top.

So what led to Sen’s inclination towards Mukherjee? It is believed Mukherjee helped Sen go from estate manager to the owner of the sprawling Saradha Gardens off Joka here in the mid-2000s. Mukherjee's more than good relations with local Communist Party of India-Marxist leaders also helped Sen.

She was popular among the group as ‘Madam’ and not even a chair would move without her nod. Such was the influence of Mukherjee in the company. Every financial deal of significant size used to be scanned by ‘Madam’ and only after her approval, would it move forward. It is learnt that except for Debjani, the others working in the newspapers, television or realty business were always rotated on a constant basis.

Debjani started off her stint in the group with Saradha Tours & Travels’ office. In 2011, she became the director of Saradha Realty. Later, she was heading other verticals of the company as well.

Debjani's sister revealed yesterday that her sister had stopped going to the office as she had already sniffed trouble on the cards. "She was not in touch with us through her number and was calling from waiters' numbers. We could understand she wanted to get out of this to come back and surrender but Sen and other aides restrained her from doing the same," said the sister.

Local police also said she was not with Sen and Arvind Chauhan on April 10 when the duo left the city. It was later that Mukherjee joined the duo in North India.

It was Debjani who had drafted the escape plan for the two before the companies were to be shut.

Abhisekh Mukherjee, a lawyer claiming to represent Debjani, however, said, "Debjani was asked not to attend office. In fact, she hasn't been getting her salary for several months. She was coerced into fleeing and called me up, intending to surrender," he said on a television channel.

However, Debjani's sister claims she has been framed. She said a tearful Debjani had called her up before she went missing .