KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the probe into the murder of Chandranath Rath, personal assistant of the West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
The CBI has formed a seven-member SIT led by DIG Pankaj Kumar Singh to investigate the case.
The six other members of the SIT are Superintendent of Police (SP) Subhas Chandra Kundu, SP Anil Kumar Yadav, Deputy SP Vikash Pathak, DSP Amit Kumar, DSP Kuldeep and Inspector Vivek Srivastava, who is based in Lucknow. Singh, Kundu and Yadav are posted in Delhi, while Pathak, Kumar and Kuldeep are attached to CBI units in Dhanbad, Patna and Ranchi respectively.
The newly elected BJP government in West Bengal had directed its Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to conduct an inquiry into Rath’s murder soon after the incident. The SIT was formed hours after the CID began its investigation.
While visiting the state-run medical college and hospital at Barasat, where Rath’s postmortem was conducted, Suvendu Adhikari had said that a CBI probe was not required as the state police were investigating the case properly.
The three accused were detained on Sunday and later arrested by the SIT formed by the state government to probe the murder, which took place at Doharia in Madhyamgram of North 24 Parganas district on the night of May 6.
“The three accused were brought to West Bengal and produced before the Barasat court in North 24 Parganas district on Monday. They were remanded to 13-day police custody,” an official associated with the investigation said.
The accused have been identified as Mayankraj Mishra, Vicky Mourya and Raj Singh. Mayankraj and Vicky are residents of Bihar’s Buxar district, while Raj Singh is from Uttar Pradesh. One of them is suspected to be a sharpshooter.
They have been charged under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for murder, possession of illegal arms, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence, the official said.
Two days after the declaration of results for the 294-member West Bengal Assembly on May 4, Rath and one of his associates were shot dead at Doharia in Madhyamgram while returning to their residential flat from Kolkata.
Investigators traced the accused using “digital clues and interstate links”.
Officials suspect that at least eight persons were involved in the conspiracy. The SIT is continuing raids in several parts of the state to trace the remaining suspects, the officer added.
Investigators have already recovered two motorcycles used in the assassination from separate locations near the crime scene. According to the SIT, the number plate of one of the recovered motorcycles was fake, similar to the Nissan four-wheeler used in the incident, and its chassis number had also been tampered with to conceal the owner’s identity.
Police had earlier detained three local criminals from the area for questioning.