Home
+
Published : 07 May 2026, 05:56 PM
Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has described the killing of his close aide Chandranath Rath as a “pre-planned murder”, alleging that the attackers had surveyed the area for days before launching the deadly ambush, NDTV reported.
Rath, 41, Adhikari’s personal assistant and a former Indian Air Force serviceman, was shot dead late Wednesday night in Madhyamgram in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.
According to NDTV on Thursday, the attackers allegedly tailed Rath’s Mahindra Scorpio before intercepting it with a smaller car carrying a fake registration plate.
Moments later, a bike-borne assailant allegedly approached the SUV and opened fire through the rolled-up passenger-side window at close range.
The attack occurred around 10:30pm when Rath was returning home and was only about 200m away from his residence.
Speaking outside the hospital where Rath was taken, Adhikari called the killing a “cold-blooded murder”.
“The incident is heart-wrenching; we condemn the incident,” he was quoted as saying.
“The way the attack was executed clearly suggests that the assailants had done a recce beforehand,” Adhikari alleged, claiming the attackers had conducted surveillance for “two to three days”.
The Indian news outlet reported that witnesses said the SUV was first blocked near Doharia junction by a small four-wheeler before the gunman fired repeatedly from close range.
The occupants of the smaller vehicle later abandoned it and reportedly fled on motorcycles.
Preliminary findings suggested four bikes may have been involved in the operation, the report added.
Visuals from the scene showed the SUV’s shattered passenger window and blood-stained seats.
Rath’s driver also suffered bullet injuries and was taken to a Kolkata hospital in critical condition.
Doctors at a nearby private hospital declared Rath dead on arrival.
“The victim was brought dead with multiple bullet injuries on his chest, which pierced his heart, and another bullet on his abdominal area. There was no opportunity to resuscitate him,” a hospital doctor told NDTV.
West Bengal Director General of Police Siddh Nath Gupta said police recovered live rounds and spent cartridges from the scene.
He added that the Nissan Micra allegedly used in the crime carried a “fake and tampered” number plate.
Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya called the killing a “planned and targeted attack”, saying it reflected the “total criminalisation of politics” in the state.
Before entering politics, Rath had spent nearly two decades in the Indian Air Force and later joined Adhikari’s inner circle after leaving the service.
