Chandranath Rath murder case: 3 sharpshooters arrested in UP

Three alleged sharpshooters arrested in Uttar Pradesh in connection with the Chandranath Rath murder case will be produced before a Barasat court. Rath, a political aide, was shot dead by bike-borne assailants, with investigators citing a planned attack involving fake number plates and coordinated vehicles

Kolkata: The three sharpshooters who were arrested in Uttar Pradesh in the Chandranath Rath assassination case will be presented at a district court at Barasat in North 24 Parganas district on Monday. The three were arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the West Bengal Police, which is probing the murder case.

Chandranath Rath, the personal assistant of the current West Bengal Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari, was shot dead on May 6 by bike-borne assailants. All three of them will be presented in the district court later in the day, and the public prosecutor will seek their police custody, sources in the state police aware of the development said.

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However, the investigating officials have decided to keep the identity of the sharpshooters confidential till they are presented to the district court and their custody is granted to the probe team. The investigating officials are also tight-lipped over the exact place in Uttar Pradesh from where the three sharpshooters were nabbed.

It is learnt that the three arrested persons were quietly brought to Kolkata on Sunday night and taken to the state police headquarters of Bhabani Bhavan in South Kolkata. The investigating officials interrogated them throughout the night, sources said.

Rath was murdered on the night of May 6, just two days after the results of the West Bengal Assembly elections were declared on May 4. The BJP candidates were declared victors from 207 Assembly constituencies, reducing the erstwhile ruling Trinamool Congress to just 80. As Rath was on his way back home at Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district from a party programme on May 6 night, his vehicle was stopped at a particular crossing by a four-wheeler.

As per the initial investigation, while Rath’s vehicle stopped after getting blocked by the other four-wheeler, one of the two motorcycles that had been shadowing Rath’s vehicle for a long time stopped beside Rath’s vehicle. An assailant driving that motorcycle shot ten rounds of bullets from a close distance.

While Rath died on the spot, his driver, Buddhadeb Bera, was critically injured. Bera, however, is recovering fast. Later investigation revealed that the number plates of that four-wheeler, which blocked Rath’s vehicle as well as the two motorcycles used in the assassination, were fake. Adhikari had claimed that Rath would not have been killed had he not been the personal assistant of the person who defeated the former Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, at Bhabanipur in South Kolkata by a margin of over 15,000 votes.