Kolkata, May 7 (IANS) The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal Police, on Thursday morning, took over the probe of the ghastly murder of Chandranath Rath, the long-time personal assistant of Suvendu Adhikari, who was shot dead by a bike-borne man.

Initial investigation revealed that while Rath was returning home on Wednesday night from a programme of the BJP, his vehicle was followed by a motorcycle with the killer as the driver.

Just as Rath’s vehicle reached Doharia crossing at Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district, another four-wheeler blocked the path of Rath’s vehicle.

As Rath’s vehicle stopped after being blocked by that four-wheeler, the motorcycle driven by the killer, wearing a helmet, stooped besides and fired indiscriminately from close range, thus killing Rath on the spot and leaving the driver of his vehicle, Buddhadeb Bera, gravely injured and profusely bleeding.

As already confirmed by the state director general of police, Siddh Nath Gupta, the number plates of the four-wheeler blocking Rath’s vehicle and the motorcycle were fake.

The DGP has also confirmed that some used cartridges and some bullets have been recovered from the spot. However, he refused to divulge further details for the sake of the investigation.

At the time the report was filed, the CID sleuths had already reached the spot of assassination and started an on-ground investigation into the matter. The investigating officers are specially checking the footage of the CCTV cameras in the area, as well as those fitted outside the nearby housing complexes.

Meanwhile, Suvendu Adhikari claimed that, as informed to him by the police, the investigating officials have secured some clues about the murder from CCTV footage.

The area where Rath was shot dead on Wednesday night has already been cordoned off by the CID sleuths. Central forces have also been deployed there. The police have stopped the movement of vehicles in the area. There are also restrictions on the movement of people.

Meanwhile, a three-member forensic team from the state-run Barasat Medical College & Hospital will conduct the autopsy of Rath’s body. The team is headed by the head of the department of the forensic wing of the said medical college, and he will be assisted by two assistant professors from the same department, sources aware of the development said.

Already, a team from the forensic department of the state police had reached the spot of the assassination and collected specimens from Rath’s vehicle and the adjacent places. The car was removed from the spot after the state police’s forensic team finished its work.

–IANS

src/dpb