Suvendu Adhikari aide murder case: CBI arrests two from UP

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two more men in connection with the murder of Chandranath Rath, an aide to West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, officials said on Friday, 5 June.

The accused, Vikas Mishra and Golu Singh, were arrested from Lucknow and Ballia in Uttar Pradesh during searches conducted by the agency, officials said. According to investigators, Mishra was apprehended from a hotel in Lucknow, while Singh was arrested from Ballia.

In a related development, another accused in the case, Gyanendra Pratap Singh alias Monu, surrendered before a Gangsters Act court in Ballia on Thursday. The court remanded him to 14 days' judicial custody.

Monu, described by local police as a history-sheeter with 12 criminal cases against him, is also wanted in the Rath murder case being probed by the CBI.

Rath was serving as executive assistant to Adhikari, then the BJP's principal face in West Bengal and leader of the opposition in the state Assembly, when he was shot dead in Madhyamgram on 6 May, two days after the results of the fiercely contested West Bengal Assembly election, which the BJP won.

The shooting took place on a public road in the Doharia area of Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district. Rath suffered critical injuries in the attack and was taken to a private hospital, where he was declared dead.

The CBI took over the investigation in May and registered an FIR after assuming charge of the probe from the West Bengal Police. Officials said all three accused would be produced before a special CBI court in Kolkata as the agency continues to investigate the alleged conspiracy and circumstances surrounding the killing.

The agency has constituted a seven-member special investigation team headed by a deputy inspector-general from its Special Crime division in Delhi. The team comprises investigators drawn from various units of the CBI.

With PTI inputs