CBI arrests key accused in Rath murder case
In a significant breakthrough in the politically sensitive murder case of Chandranath Rath, personal assistant to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested the alleged main shooter, Rajkumar, from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.
The arrest was made in coordination with the Muzaffarnagar Police. CBI sources confirmed that Rajkumar is the primary accused in the contract killing of Rath, who was shot dead in broad daylight on May 6th near his residence in Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas district. The agency has secured a transit remand for the accused and will produce him before the Special CBI Court in Kolkata on Tuesday.
This latest development comes nearly a week after the CBI formally took over the probe from the West Bengal Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) on May 12th. The central agency had constituted a seven-member SIT, led by a DIG-rank officer, to investigate the conspiracy, money trail, and possible masterminds behind the killing. Earlier, the state SIT had arrested three suspected contract killers, Mayank Raj Mishra, Vicky Maurya, and Raj Singh, identified as a sharpshooter, from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The trio were produced before a court in Barasat and remanded to 13 days of police custody. Investigators had claimed the murder was a paid assassination, with reports suggesting payments ranging from Rs 70 lakh to over Rs 1 crore for the operation.
Rath, a former Air Force serviceman and a trusted aide to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, was ambushed by motorcycle-borne assailants who forced his vehicle to stop before opening fire at close range. The incident occurred just two days after the results of the West Bengal Assembly elections were declared, in which the BJP-led alliance came to power. The CBI’s involvement has intensified scrutiny on the interstate links in the case, including the supply of weapons and the precise intelligence of Rath’s movements. Forensic teams from the CBI and Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) had earlier visited the crime scene as part of the probe.
With Rajkumar’s arrest, the focus now shifts to interrogating him and the other three accused to unravel the full conspiracy. Officials said the agency is probing organised crime angles and possible political motives. The case has drawn significant attention across political circles in West Bengal, with both the ruling dispensation and opposition parties closely monitoring the developments.
The investigation remains ongoing, and further arrests cannot be ruled out as the CBI continues to trace the money trail and identify the higher-ups involved in the alleged contract killing.
