At least three people have been detained for questioning in connection with the murder of Chandranath Rath, personal assistant to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, a senior official said.
“The investigation is ongoing. Some people are being interrogated,” a senior police official said.
Adhikari, the front-runner for the chief minister’s post in the BJP government, defeated incumbent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her home in Bhabanipur in south Kolkata.
Rath was Adhikari’s personal assistant for about five years and was his close aide who played a key role in managing Adhikari’s election in both Nandigram and Babanipur. Adhikari won both seats.
“Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been informed,” a BJP leader said.
At around 10:15 pm on Wednesday, unidentified assailants on a motorcycle shot Rath at close range as he was returning to his residence at Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas. A vehicle was used to intercept Rath’s car, which was later abandoned after the attackers fled on two motorcycles, according to eyewitness accounts.
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A resident told the media: “Three people, wearing helmets, were waiting with two motorcycles in a dark lane next to the packaging unit in Al-Dahria. When the white Rath Scorpio arrived, another car (a Nissan Micra hatchback) approached from the opposite direction and blocked the road. Then the three got out of the lane and started shooting at the Rath’s car, after which they fled on two motorcycles in opposite directions, abandoning the car.”
Investigations revealed that the hatchback’s license plate and body number had been tampered with. The number belongs to a vehicle registered in Siliguri. Investigators later contacted Siliguri police after tracing the registration number. The police found that the number plate belonged to another vehicle owned by a Siliguri resident named William Joseph.
Joseph, who works in the tea industry, told the media: “The car used is not mine. The number used on the license plate is mine. I had put my car up for sale on an online platform a few months ago. The police called me at the police station with my car and documents. They asked me some questions.”
“Whatever the police have got so far, it is a cold-blooded plot. The killers have been conducting reconnaissance in the last two-three days and used fake number plates,” Adhikari told the media.
While Rath was shot dead and his driver Buddhadeb Bera was seriously injured after being hit by three bullets, a third BJP worker in the car, who was sitting in the back seat, escaped unhurt, BJP members aware of the developments said.
“The police took his statement. While Rath was sitting next to the driver, the BJP worker was sitting at the back. As soon as the gunfight started, he bent down and hit behind the seat,” a BJP leader said.
While senior state police officials, including Director General of Police (DGP) Syed Nath Gupta, rushed to the spot on Wednesday evening, CID officials and forensic experts arrived in the morning.
Samples, such as a bloodstained seat cover and cartridge shells, were collected from the site. Surveillance camera footage is being analyzed.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the hatchback car used in the crime could have reached Doharia and Madhyamgram at least six to seven hours before the crime took place. The CCTV camera was seen at around 3pm near Daulatala.
“I am a mother too. So, I will not demand death penalty for the killers. But I want life imprisonment for them. I would not have felt this much pain if my son had died in an accident. I think the TMC is behind it because my son was in charge of administering elections in Suvendu in many districts including Chandipur,” Hasirani Rath, mother of the deceased, told the media from her home in Chandipur in Purba Medinipur.
