Kolkata, May 8 (IANS) The Special Investigating Team (SIT) of the West Bengal Police, which is probing the murder of Chandranath Rath, the personal assistant (PA) to Suvednu Adhikari, has successfully located and retrieved the second motorcycle involved in the crime that occurred on the night of May 6 in Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas.

Initially, it was reported that while Rath was returning home on Wednesday night after attending a BJP programme, his vehicle was being followed by just one motorcycle ridden by the assailant. However, insiders from the state police said, Rath’s vehicle was shadowed by two motorcycles.

While one of the two motorcycles was recovered on Thursday afternoon from an abandoned place near the scene of assassination at Doharia crossing at Madhyamgram, the other motorcycle has been traced by the investigating official, at another abandoned place near a rail-gate at Barasat, also in North 24 Parganas.

Earlier, the police also recovered the four-wheeler, which blocked the path of Rath’s vehicle, so that motorcycle-borne assailants could stop by his vehicle and shoot at him several times from a close range, ensuring his death on the spot.

However, the investigating officials have not been able to arrest anyone so far.

The assassination of Rath took place on Wednesday at around 10.30 p.m. while he was returning to his home at Madhyamgram in his vehicle. The driver of his vehicle, Buddhadeb Bera, was also hit by a bullet and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kolkata.

Already, the investigating officials have got information that the number plates of both the four-wheeler which blocked Rath’s vehicle and the first motorcycle, which was recovered on Thursday, were fake.

The investigating officials doubt that the number plate of the second motorcycle, which was recovered on Friday afternoon, is also fake.

A source in the state police said the manner in which the assassination was carried out indicated that the operation had been planned well in advance and that Rath’s daily movements had been under surveillance for a considerable period.

The source added that the way the assailant stopped beside Rath’s vehicle, fired at least 10 rounds from close range, and escaped immediately afterwards suggested that the killer was an experienced and professional sharpshooter.

–IANS

src/dpb