Kolkata, May 20 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested the fifth accused in connection with the murder case of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant Chandranath Rath from Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi, central agency officials confirmed.

Officials said the accused has been identified as 40-year-old Vinay Rai alias Pumpum Rai, originally hailing from the Zamani area of Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur.

Earlier on Monday, the agency had arrested the main shooter, identified as Rajkumar Singh, from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. The arrest was made with the help of the Uttar Pradesh Police.

CBI sources identified the accused as Rajkumar Singh, a resident of Chhapar in Uttar Pradesh. A joint operation involving the CBI and local police was carried out on Sunday.

The investigating team had earlier raided a house in Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar area, but Rajkumar could not be traced there.

He was eventually apprehended near a toll plaza on the Haridwar-Delhi Highway on Monday. The location is around 30 km from Muzaffarpur. Investigators suspect that he was attempting to flee through Delhi and Haridwar.

Meanwhile, a court has sent three arrested accused — Mayank Raj Mishra, Vicky Maurya, and Raj Singh — to police custody until May 24. They were arrested from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in connection with the case.

According to CBI sources, the name of Rajkumar Singh surfaced during the interrogation of accused Mayank and Raj Singh.

Following his detention, Rajkumar was granted transit remand and later produced before a special CBI court in Kolkata on Tuesday. The investigation into the case is still ongoing, and further action is expected as the agency continues its probe.

41-year-old Rath, who once served in the Indian Air Force, was shot dead in Madhyamgram in North 24-Parganas late on May 6. The incident occurred within 48 hours of the announcement of the high-stakes assembly election results in West Bengal.

Rath was seated in the passenger seat of a car when unidentified assailants arrived on a motorcycle, opened fire and fled the spot. The driver of the vehicle was also injured in the attack.

Both Rath and the injured driver were rushed to hospital shortly afterwards. However, doctors declared Rath dead.

Following the incident, the state police formed an SIT to probe the murder and subsequently arrested two accused from Uttar Pradesh and an alleged sharpshooter from Buxar in Bihar.

The case was handed over to the CBI by West Bengal Police owing to the severity of the crime.

After re-registering the matter as a regular case, the CBI filed a case under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. These include Section 103(1) for murder, Section 61(1) for criminal conspiracy, and Section 111(2)(a) relating to organised crime. The agency has also added Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.

The investigation was initiated based on a complaint lodged by Rath’s brother. In his statement, he alleged that the killing was the result of a planned and well-organised conspiracy involving several unidentified persons.

Public Prosecutor Advocate Bivas Chatterjee informed the court that the prosecution had also requested additional charges for destruction of evidence. The court accepted the plea and included the added charges in the case proceedings.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had visited Rath’s residence on Sunday to attend the funeral service. He assured Rath’s mother, Hasirani, Rath, that those responsible for the murder would be brought to justice.

Hasirani Rath said she had faith in the Chief Minister.

–IANS

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