Suvendu Adhikari aide murder: Now, focus shifts to 'rival political party'

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday added a political dimension to its probe into the murder of Chandranath Rath, a close aide of West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, claiming it had uncovered alleged links between one of the accused and the office of an unnamed 'rival political party'.

The agency arrested two brothers, Sagar and Sahib Sonkar, who had worked with Rath, and alleged that Sagar had maintained regular landline contact with the office of the rival party while he was employed by the slain BJP functionary.

Officials said the CBI was trying to identify the individual Sagar had allegedly been in touch with. Investigators also claimed he had worked for an MLA of the rival party until 2020 before joining the BJP.

The agency said suspicion arose after analysing Sagar's call detail records, which allegedly showed repeated calls to the local office of the rival political outfit.

According to the CBI, the alleged conspiracy to kill Rath had been in the works since December 2025, with the plan postponed several times before it was eventually carried out. Investigators also alleged that Sagar acted as the link between the conspirators and the hired shooters, arranging both the contract and the payment for the killing.

Rath, who served as Adhikari's personal assistant and played a key role in the BJP's campaign in Kolkata's Bhabanipur ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, was shot dead by motorcycle-borne assailants on Jessore Road near Madhyamgram on 6 May, two days after the election results in which the BJP defeated the Trinamool Congress.

Rath's killing also revived scrutiny over a string of unnatural deaths involving people close to Adhikari over the past 13 years. In 2013, his then personal assistant Pradip Jha died under circumstances that drew public attention, although investigators found no criminal angle. In 2018, his personal security officer, Subhabrata Chakraborty, was found dead at a police barrack in Purba Medinipur in a case initially treated as suicide before being reopened by the CID in 2021 after his family sought a fresh probe. Another close aide, Pulak Lahiri, also died under unusual circumstances in 2021.

With the latest arrests, the CBI has now arrested two alleged conspirators, six alleged shooters — Monu Singh, Raj Singh, Golu Singh, Mayank Raj Mishra, Vickey Maurya and Naveen Kumar Singh — and three alleged middlemen, Vinay Rai, Sanjay Rai and Vikas Mishra. One accused remains absconding, officials said.

The Central agency took over the investigation from the West Bengal Police after a request from the state government and constituted a seven-member special investigation team headed by a deputy inspector general from its Special Crime unit.

While the CBI has repeatedly referred to an unnamed 'rival political party', it has not disclosed which party or office it believes was in contact with the accused, saying efforts are underway to identify the individual allegedly involved.

With PTI inputs