CBI nabs two brothers in Chandranath Rath murder conspiracy case

The CBI arrested two brothers in the Chandranath Rath murder case, alleging they were involved in the conspiracy and examining suspected links with a rival political party. Investigators said the plot was planned months in advance and further investigation is underway

New Delhi: The CBI has arrested two key suspects in the plot to assassinate West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s close aide Chandranath Rath, uncovering potential links to the functionary of a rival political party in the state, officials said on Friday.

The accused two brothers identified as Sagar Sonkar and Sahib Sonkar were associates working with the deceased. The officials alleged that the investigations showed that Sagar Sonkar maintained regular contact with the office of a rival political party via landline calls while working with Rath.

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The accused are likely to be produced before a special court in Kolkata on Friday, the officials said. Rath was fatally shot by motorcycle-borne assailants while traveling in a car near Madhyamgram in the North 24 Parganas district on May 6. According to the officials, the agency has taken note of the regular phone calls between Sagar and the party office and is trying to identify the person with whom he was in touch, they said.

The CBI has also come to know that till 2020, Sagar worked with an MLA of the rival party before switching sides to the BJP, the officials said. The suspicion arose during the analysis of Sagar’s call detail records, which showed numerous calls made to the local office of the rival party, they said.

The agency found that the plan to eliminate Rath, a key figure behind Adhikari’s election campaign in Kolkata’s Bhabanipur in the run-up to the 2026 Bengal polls, had been going on since December 2025, but it kept shifting for one reason or the other, the officials said.

Further investigation gave the CBI enough material to find out Sagar’s alleged links with the shooters hired to kill Rath, they said. It is alleged that he gave the contract and the money to the shooters for the execution of the murder, they said.

Rath, who was the personal assistant to Adhikari, was shot dead on Jessore Road near Madhyamgram on May 6, two days after the declaration of results for the fiercely-contested Bengal polls, which saw the BJP oust the Trinamool Congress from power.

The CBI has so far arrested six shooters Monu Singh, Raj Singh, Golu Singh, Mayank Raj Mishra, Vickey Maurya and Naveen Kumar Singh  besides middlemen Vinay Rai, Sanjay Rai and Vikas Mishra, who took the contract, they said.

One accused remains absconding, the officials said. The CBI took over the probe from the West Bengal Police after a request from the state government.

To probe the case, the central agency formed a seven-member special investigation team under a DIG, Special Crime, from Delhi, comprising some of the best investigators drawn from its various units, the officials said.