A fake number plate was used on the motorcycle involved in the assassination of Chandranath Rath, personal assistant to outgoing Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, Director General of Police (DGP) Siddh Nath Gupta confirmed on Thursday.
Gupta arrived at Viva City Hospital in Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas, around 1.30 a.m., where Rath was declared dead after being brought in with bullet injuries sustained in the attack on Wednesday night.
"The motorcycle used in the assassination was bearing a fake number plate. We have recovered shells of used cartridges as well as some live cartridges from the spot. A detailed investigation is underway," Gupta said, declining to disclose further details.
According to state police sources citing eyewitness accounts, Rath's vehicle was initially believed to have been followed by another four-wheeler for some time. However, further investigation revealed that a motorcycle had been silently tailing the car.
When Rath's vehicle reached the Doharia crossing in Madhyamgram, a four-wheeler allegedly blocked the road while the motorcycle rider opened fire. Police sources said the precision and execution of the crime indicated that it was a well-planned operation carried out by professional killers.
Meanwhile, West Bengal BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya alleged that the murder was part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the Trinamool Congress leadership following the party's defeat in the recently concluded West Bengal elections.
"Trinamool Congress-backed goons have started creating disturbances in different pockets of the state masquerading as BJP workers. Now they have murdered the personal assistant of the outgoing leader of the opposition to send a message," Bhattacharya claimed.
Amid grief over the killing of his long-time aide, Suvendu Adhikari appealed to BJP workers to maintain restraint and avoid retaliatory action. Speaking outside the hospital, he said there was a "high possibility of political links" behind the murder but urged supporters to trust the ongoing police investigation.
"I had a discussion with the DGP. He informed me that investigators have secured some clues from CCTV footage installed near the crime scene. Let us rely on the police investigation. I appeal to our party workers to maintain peace and refrain from taking the law into their hands," Adhikari said.
He also alleged that "vendetta politics" had continued in West Bengal for the last 15 years and claimed BJP workers had been attacked in Khardaha and Basirhat earlier on Wednesday. Adhikari further announced that the BJP would take full responsibility for Rath's family and for the treatment of Rath's driver, Buddhadeb Bera, who was also shot and remains in critical condition.
While no Trinamool Congress leader directly addressed the media on the issue, the party released a statement on social media demanding a court-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the murder.
"We demand the strongest possible action in this matter, including a court-monitored CBI investigation so that those responsible are identified and brought to justice without delay. Violence and political killings have no place in a democracy," the Trinamool Congress statement said.
(With inputs from IANS)
