The killing of BJP leader and potential aide to Prime Minister Suvendu Adhikari, Chandranath Rath, near Kolkata on Wednesday has heightened political tension in West Bengal, days after the BJP ousted the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the hotly contested Assembly elections, winning 207 of the 294 seats.
Police deployment has been beefed up across Kolkata and its suburbs in the wake of the murder as anger and fear mount among political party supporters. Police barriers were placed near checkpoints on the state borders and patrols were increased.
While political parties demanded a thorough investigation into Rath’s killing, they urged cadres and citizens to remain calm.
Police fear social media messages and videos related to the murder will escalate tensions.
More than 1,500 people have already been arrested since Monday when the assembly election results were announced. Reports of political violence including arson have poured in from different parts of the state as it prepares for an unstable government transition.
The BJP and the TMC accused each other of fueling the violence.
Rath, 41, a former Indian Air Force employee, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding assailants who followed his white Scorpio SUV before intercepting it near Doharia in Madhyamgram, and opened fire while he was still inside the vehicle.
Another passenger in the SUV, the driver, also sustained injuries and was initially taken to a hospital in Madhyamgram before being transferred to a Kolkata hospital for further treatment.
According to what H.T. learned, the accused fired from both sides of the white SUV. Doctors told police: “Rath was shot in the right abdomen and left chest. The bullets penetrated the heart.”
Rath played a key role in running the Adhikari elections in both Nandigram and Bhabanipur, and Adhikari won in both the constituencies, defeating Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee in one.
A police officer, who requested anonymity, said the attackers appeared to have acted meticulously. “The murder appears to have been committed by professionals. Chandranath Rath, who was sitting next to the driver, was the only target.”
“The shots were perfectly aimed. None of them hit the body of the SUV or the windshield. Two bullets hit the driver when he was close to the target. The rest hit Rath’s vital organs,” the officer added.
An eyewitness narrates the incident
An eyewitness told news agency ANI that the attack appeared to have been “pre-planned” and was carried out at “close range” by a bike-riding attacker.
Narrating the sequence of events, the witness said that Rath’s car had just passed his car when it suddenly stopped on the road and a man on a motorcycle opened fire from the left side of the four-wheel drive vehicle.
The eyewitness said, “The person seemed to be an expert and fled immediately,” adding that he heard “the sound of two shots” during the shooting.
According to the witness, the accident occurred between 10.30pm and 11pm, about 200-300 meters from the hospital. He added that local residents took the victims to the hospital after the shooting.
Suvendu Adhikari urges calm
The crowd outside the hospital swelled as BJP supporters raised slogans against the Trinamool Congress and chanted, “We will crush TMC.”
Adhikari said the BJP was yet to jump to conclusions, though he pointed out the long history of political violence in the state.
“We are not coming to any conclusion at this moment, even though the TMC has used terrorism all these years. The Directorate General of Police has assured us that a proper investigation is underway. He said this was a planned murder committed in cold blood. A car was used in the crime,” Adhikari said.
He appealed to party workers not to respond. “I ask our people not to take the law into their own hands and trust the administration. Justice will be done,” he said.
Adhikari added that investigators were still investigating whether the murder had a political connection. “We believe that the incident may or may not have anything to do with politics. The police have found that the murder was planned during the last three-four days. A survey has been conducted. Our party will stand by the victim’s family,” he said.
He also referred to reports of attacks on BJP workers elsewhere in the state.
“We will wait. The police have some evidence. Let them investigate this murder,” Adhikari added.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Agnimitra Paul alleged that there was a political motive behind the killing and linked it to Mamata Banerjee’s defeat in Bhabanipur. “This may be a result of Mamata Banerjee’s defeat in Bhabanipur,” she added.
Police examine a suspicious vehicle
Police teams have started examining CCTV footage from cameras installed around the crime scene on Jessore Road. Shopkeepers in the area are also being questioned as investigators suspect some of them may have witnessed the attack.
Police stations along the Bangladesh-Jharkhand border have been alerted, officials said.
West Bengal DGP Siddhinath Gupta reached the hospital soon after the incident and confirmed that investigators had seized a suspicious vehicle.
“We have seized a vehicle. A four-wheeler. Its number plate has been tampered with. The number belongs to a vehicle registered in Siliguri. We have received several live ammunition and boxes of fired ammunition,” Gupta told reporters.
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 reportedly told police that his car – a different model with the same registration number – was parked in the garage of his home in Siliguri, about 557 km from Madhyamgram.
Police suspect that the attackers planned the killing over several days and conducted reconnaissance before the attack.
TMC is seeking a CBI probe
The ruling All India Trinamool Congress condemned Rath’s killing and claimed that several TMC workers also died in incidents of post-poll violence over the past few days.
“We strongly condemn the brutal murder of Chandranath Rath in Madhyamgram tonight, along with the killing of three other TMC workers in incidents of post-poll violence allegedly carried out by BJP-backed miscreants over the last three days, despite the Model Code of Conduct being in force,” the party said in a statement.
The party also demanded strict action and called for an investigation by the CBI under court supervision.
The statement added: “We demand the strongest possible action in this matter, including a court-supervised investigation by the Central Bank of Iraq so that those responsible are identified and brought to justice without delay. Violence and political killing have no place in any democratic country and the guilty must be held accountable as soon as possible.”
