The CBI has made another breakthrough in its ongoing probe into the murder of Chandranath Rath, former aide to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, with the arrest of an additional accused from Uttar Pradesh. The accused, identified as Vinay Rai, was apprehended in Varanasi on Tuesday night by a CBI team after sustained search operations and interrogation-based leads.
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The arrest follows closely on the heels of another key development in the case, when a suspected sharpshooter, Rajkumar Singh alias Raj Singh, was taken into custody from Muzaffarnagar on Monday. According to investigators, Singh is believed to have been actively involved in the execution of the crime and has a history of operating as a professional shooter in Uttar Pradesh.
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Rath was killed on the night of May 6 in Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas, just two days after the declaration of the West Bengal Assembly election results. Police sources stated that unidentified assailants intercepted his vehicle on a road and opened fire indiscriminately. Rath died on the spot, while his driver sustained serious gunshot injuries in the attack.
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Following the incident, the state police had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a senior CID officer. The SIT initially arrested three individuals from Uttar Pradesh and Buxar in Bihar, including one identified as a sharpshooter. These arrests formed the early breakthrough in the case before it was subsequently transferred to the CBI for deeper investigation.
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After taking over the probe, the CBI re-examined the accused arrested by the SIT through multiple rounds of interrogation. Officials said these questioning sessions helped identify additional suspects allegedly linked to the conspiracy. Acting on these leads, the agency arrested Singh in Muzaffarnagar and later Rai in Varanasi. However, investigators have not yet disclosed Raiโs specific role in the murder, stating that his interrogation is ongoing.
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With the latest arrest, the total number of individuals taken into custody in connection with the case has risen to fiveโthree by the SIT and two by the CBI. Significantly, four of the five arrested accused are reported to be from Uttar Pradesh, prompting investigators to examine the possibility of a wider inter-state organised crime network behind the assassination.
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Officials said that continued interrogation of the arrested individuals is expected to yield further leads regarding the conspiracy, including the identification of possible masterminds and the broader operational structure behind the killing.
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