Suvendu aide assailants waited for 3 hours, recced area: Police point to hired killers
10 rounds of firing ensured Rath was killed, say police
The move comes after a coordinated raid by police across three states led to the arrest of a Ballia-based sharpshooter and his accomplices. File Photo Police probing the murder of Chandranath Rath, the executive assistant of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and one of his closest aides, on Thursday said that the killing has all the signs of involvement of professional killers.
A day after Rath, 41, was shot dead while he was on his way home in Barasat, police found the motorcycle and the car that were used by the assailants.
According to eyewitnesses and police sources, a car blocked the road near Doltala in Madhyamgram around 10.30 pm, forcing the SUV, in which Rath was travelling, to slow down. Moments later, a bike pulled up next to the front seat on which Rath was sitting. The assailants, who were on a two-wheeler, fired multiple rounds through the rolled-up window.
Police have launched an investigation and are conducting searches to trace the assailants.
According to police, 10 rounds were fired from an automatic handgun to kill Rath.
Three of them hit Rath, who died soon after. The SUV’s driver was also injured. Visuals show a massive bullet hole in the SUV’s window.
Acting Director General of Police Siddh Nath Gupta on Thursday said the car that blocked the road and forced Rath’s SUV to stop has been seized. The car was found abandoned close to the site of the murder near Doltala in Madhyamgram.
“The car’s number plate has been tampered with, and it belongs to someone in Siliguri (in north Bengal). We have seized cartridges and live rounds from the spot. We are processing all the evidence and speaking to the witnesses. Investigation is on,” the DGP said.
A damaged glass window of a vehicle after BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant Chandranath Rath was shot at from close range by unidentified assailants, according to sources, in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas. (PTI Photo)
“The CCTV footage showed that the car that intercepted Rath’s vehicle was present on the service road at Nowaikhali Bridge about a kilometre and a half from the place of occurrence about three hours before the incident. Evidence indicates that the assailants were aware of Rath’s movement and were waiting for him. There is also evidence that the area was recced by the assailants before the assault,” said a senior police officer.
The motorbike used by the assailants was found abandoned near Kolkata airport.
“The killers were professionals who knew it would be hard to flee in a car from the congested area, and therefore chose to use the motorbike, which too was abandoned later,” the officer added.
Chandranath Rath, the personal assistant of Suvendu Adhikari, was shot dead by miscreants on a public road in Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas. The car driver was seriously injured. (Express Photo Shashi Ghosh)
“The chassis numbers of both the car and the motorbike have been carefully removed. The murder has all the signs of professional killers who planned the hit days before, and carried out the murder with precision,” said the senior officer.
Meanwhile, a Special Investigation Team (SIT), including officers from CID, IB, and STF, has been formed to probe the incident. The BSF has been alerted so that the killers cannot cross the border into Bangladesh.
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