Professional killers suspected in murder of Suvendu aide
The murder of Chandra Nath Rath (41) was carried out by suspected professional killers, according to Kolkata police. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of police has detained three persons for questioning, while several teams are scouring the length and breadth of the State to hunt down the killers. This is part of broader post-poll unrest: over 200 FIRs have been registered, and 433 arrests have been made since May 4, with authorities deploying central forces and urging zero tolerance for violence ahead of the BJP’s planned oath-taking on May 9.
The murder of Rath, the long-time private assistant to BJP’s presumptive chief ministerial face Suvendu Adhikari, was carried out barely 48 hours after the BJP delivered a historic landslide victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.
Eyewitnesses and police reconstruction paint a chilling picture of professional execution.
Rath was returning home from Kolkata in a white Mahindra Scorpio SUV around 10.30 pm when a car, later identified with a tampered registration, suddenly blocked the road. Motorcycle-borne assailants, arriving on at least four bikes, opened fire from both sides at point-blank range. Rath, seated in the front passenger seat, was hit by at least three bullets, two piercing his heart and one in the abdomen. His companion, Buddhadeb Bera, sustained critical injuries to the chest, abdomen and leg. Approximately 10 rounds were fired in total. Rath was rushed to a private nursing home but was declared dead on arrival.
The forensic team recovered spent cartridges and shattered glass from the SUV at the crime scene. An SIT headed by the Inspector-General of CID, with officers from the Intelligence Branch and the Bengal STF, has been constituted. The car has been seized, and CCTV footage is under scrutiny. No arrests have been made.
His death, BJP leaders allege, was no random act of post-poll rage but a targeted message to Suvendu Adhikari. Adhikari described Rath’s killing as “cold-blooded and pre-planned”, claiming the assailants conducted reconnaissance for “two to three days” and monitored movements closely. “This is the result of 15 years of <Maha-Jungle Raj></i>,” he told reporters, vowing “cleansing work” while urging cadre restraint. Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar assured the family of justice. Senior BJP leaders framed it as a “targeted political assassination” aimed at demoralising the incoming administration.
As the SIT probe intensifies, examining political links, criminal syndicates, and possible revenge for Adhikari’s Bhabanipur triumph, the new BJP Government faces an immediate test. Security has been ramped up in vulnerable districts, yet the cycle of violence, familiar from 2011, 2016, and 2021 and now 2026, persists.
