The investigation into the murder of Chandranath Rath, a close aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, took a dramatic turn this week after a person arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was “wrongly” released, sparking a reaction from political leaders, who described the wrongfully detained man as “loyal” to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Raj Singh, 28, was arrested on May 10 by the West Bengal Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to investigate the case. The CBI took over the investigation into the case after registering a separate FIR in the matter on May 11.
Singh was released from Kolkata on May 20 after the Central Bureau of Investigation found that he was mistakenly detained due to confusion between his name and that of alleged main shooter Rajkumar Singh, HT had earlier reported.
At the same time, the CBI tightened its net around the alleged plot by arresting an arms supplier linked to the accused shooters.
The officials said the wrongful arrest stemmed from the initial investigation after Kolkata Police arrested two suspects – Vicky Maurya and Mayank Mishra – from Bihar’s Buxar district. During interrogation, the name ‘Raj Singh’ came up, prompting UP Police to arrest Raj Singh from Ayodhya and hand him over to Bengal Police, an earlier HT report said.
How did the wrongful arrest happen?
Sources cited in an earlier HT report said Raj Singh was returning from Lucknow after attending a wedding linked to a legislator when he was arrested by police. His photos with BJP leaders later went viral on social media, sparking political speculation around the case. He was released from Kolkata jail on Wednesday after getting a clean answer in the case.
A political controversy escalated on Friday over the wrongful arrest in the murder case of Chandranath Rath, personal assistant to West Bengal Chief Minister and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, before he was released after a Central Bureau of Investigation investigation.
Raj Singh claimed that he was mistaken for another person with a similar name and was subjected to detention pressure despite having no connection to the crime.
“I was wrongly arrested, along with another Raj Kumar Singh. I had gone to Ayodhya with my mother for darshan. While returning home, a police team arrested me. They did not listen to me, did not ask for evidence. They threatened me with a confrontation and tried to force me to confess,” news agency ANI quoted Singh as saying.
He alleged that after being transferred to Kolkata, he was pressured to confess to a crime he did not commit.
He added: “Later, I was transferred to Kolkata, where the CID tortured me until I confessed to a crime I did not commit. Their aim was to accuse me as a criminal.”
AAP launches attack
The incident also sparked political reactions, with Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia attacking the BJP and investigating agencies over the arrest.
In a post on X, Sisodia alleged misuse of powers of police and investigative agencies, alleging that innocent people could be targeted without evidence.
“Raj Singh and his family are BJP supporters. They must have applauded even the highly glorified police encounters, the ED-CBI raids, the arrests in fake cases. They would have applauded all this too. The BJP must have gained more courage from their applause – that they could, whenever they wanted, on any charge they wished, arrest anyone, and carry out encounters,” Sisodia wrote.
“But thank God. They survived. Otherwise, the blind media would have been screaming at the top of their lungs to the country about how the BJP police killed the mastermind. The applause they gave to the BJP was about to turn into bullets facing them. Thank God,” he added.
‘I was afraid I would be killed in the encounter’: Raj Singh thanks CBI
Singh thanked the CBI for what he described as a fair investigation and appealed to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to take action against the police personnel involved in his arrest.
“I thank the RBI for the fair investigation. I appeal to Chief Minister Yogi Ji to take action against this police team,” Singh, who identified himself as state general secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha, said.
Recalling the fear he experienced after the arrest, Singh added: “Every night, I feared that I would be falsely arrested and killed in an encounter, even though I had no case. Who wouldn’t be afraid?”
Speaking to news agency PTI at his residence in Ballia’s Anand Nagar area, Singh alleged that Special Operations Group (SOG) personnel mentally harassed him, threatened him with a fake encounter, and pressured him to confess. The relevant authorities have not commented on these accusations yet.
The CBI later identified Rajkumar Singh, also a resident of Ballia, as the alleged main shooter and arrested him from Muzaffarnagar on May 18. As the investigation progressed, the UP STF, with the assistance of the CBI, arrested Naveen Kumar Singh from Ballia for allegedly supplying the weapons used in the murder conspiracy.
Chandranath Rath’s murder occurred on May 6, 2026, and is now being investigated by the CBI, which suspects at least eight people to be involved in the plot. The agency also arrested another accused, Vinay Rai alias Bambam of Ghazipur district, from Varanasi on May 19.
