CBI takes UP history-sheeter into custody in Chandranath Rath murder case

The CBI has taken Uttar Pradesh history-sheeter Gyanendra Pratap Singh alias Monu into custody in connection with the murder of Chandranath Rath, a former associate of Suvendu Adhikari. Singh was transferred from jail in UP to Kolkata for further investigation

Ballia (UP): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday took into custody a history-sheeter from Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district, Gyanendra Pratap Singh alias Monu, in connection with the murder of Chandranath Rath, a former associate of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, officials said.

Singh had surrendered before a Gangsters Act court in Ballia on Thursday in another case and was remanded in judicial custody in Mau jail.

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Officials had said Singh, who faces 12 criminal cases, was also wanted in the Rath murder case being investigated by the CBI. He has been taken to Kolkata by the CBI acting on a warrant issued by the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) at Barasat in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, district government counsel Sanjeev Singh said.

The agency took custody of Singh, a resident of Sheetal Davani village in Ballia, from Mau district jail. A case relating to Rath’s murder was registered at Madhyamgram police station in Kolkata under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act.

According to officials, a non-bailable warrant had been issued against Singh on May 25 after he failed to appear before the court in a Gangsters Act case registered at Bansdih Road police station in 2023.

Singh’s wife had earlier claimed that her husband was innocent and expressed faith in the CBI probe. A video and a Facebook post purportedly made by Singh, in which he sought a fair investigation into Rath’s murder and named several persons as alleged conspirators, had also surfaced on social media.

Officials said the CBI has already taken two other accused from Ballia district — Naveen Kumar Singh of Thamhanpura village and Golu Singh alias Tiger of the Bansdih Road area — to Kolkata on transit remand.

Another accused, Raj Kumar Singh of the Rasra area, had been arrested earlier and taken to Kolkata. With the latest development, four persons from Ballia district have so far come under the CBI’s scanner in the Rath murder investigation.

Rath was shot dead in West Bengal on May 6, two days after the assembly election results were announced. The case was handed over to the CBI.