LUCKNOW: A man arrested for the brutal murder of West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari's aide Chandranath Rath has been given a clean chit by the CBI. Raj Singh was mistaken to be Rajkumar Singh, the main shooter in the murder case.
According to the CBI, Kolkata Police mistakenly arrested Raj Singh, a resident of Ballia district of eastern UP, thinking he was the main shooter Rajkumar Singh. However, Rajkumar Singh, also from Ballia, was later arrested from the Chhapar toll plaza in Muzaffarnagar on May 19.
The premier investigation agency said Kolkata Police had first arrested two men, Vicky Maurya and Mayank Mishra, from Buxar in Bihar getting the early leads during the investigation.
During questioning, the name ‘Raj Singh’ came up, after which police arrested Raj from Ayodhya on May 10. UP Police had taken Raj Singh into custody and had handed him over to West Bengal Police.
At the time of his arrest, he was reportedly returning with family and friends after attending the wedding of an MLC in Lucknow. Soon after his arrest, several of his photos with BJP leaders went viral on social media.
After his release, he has released a video. In a threatening tone saying: “Jai Shri Ram. Very soon, everyone will get their answers. Please be patient. And the media... answers are coming. Wait for a few days.”
Meanwhile, in this murder case, the CBI, with the help of UP STF, has arrested arms supplier Naveen Kumar Singh. A day before this, the CBI had arrested another accused Vinay Rai from Varanasi. Rai is a resident of Deoria village in Ghazipur.
PA Chandranath Rath was murdered on May 6, 2026. The CBI is investigating this case. The investigating agency suspects the involvement of eight persons in the conspiracy.
According to sources in Varanasi unit of STF, Naveen Kumar Singh of Bamhanpura, Fefna police station area, Ballia, has been arrested on charges of supplying weapons to the accused in the murder of Rath. He is the fifth person to be arrested in connection with the case.
Naveen Kumar Singh was taken into custody by the STF from Bisunpuri intersection. “The CBI arrested Naveen and recovered a weapon from his possession. He has been taken to Kolkata for further questioning,” a senior police officer in Ballia said.
During interrogation, he stated that on May 7, Gyanendra Pratap Singh alias Mannu, a resident of Sheetal Davni, came to his house. He was accompanied by the main shooters Rajkumar Singh and Golu Singh. Mannu gave him a bag containing weapons and asked him to keep it at home.
When Rajkumar Singh was arrested, Naveen removed the bag from his house and kept it in a warehouse from where the STF recovered it. The bag allegedly contained one 9 mm pistol, two .32 bore pistols, two .32 bore revolvers, 45 live cartridges, and nine spent casings. Naveen is the fifth person to be arrested in the case. Earlier, four accused — Mayank Raj Mishra and Vicky Maurya from Buxar, Bihar; Rajkumar Singh from UP’s Ballia; and Vinay Rai from Varanasi — were arrested in the case.
A resident of Thamhanpura village in Ballia district, Naveen works as a contractor; his father is a government employee. Moreover, the probe agency suspects that the car used in the crime was also procured from Ballia.
As per the sources, the agency, during the probe, learnt that the vehicle — a silver hatchback — allegedly used by the assailants in the attack was purchased from a Ballia resident a few days before the murder. The agency is now trying to trace the buyer and establish the chain of possession of the vehicle allegedly used in the crime.
