Suvendu aide murder accused booked in 3 cases: Ballia police

Police have filed three cases against a 25-year-old man, Raj Kumar Singh, in connection with the murder of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's aide, Chandranath Rath.

Police have filed three cases against a 25-year-old local youth in connection with the killing of the aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, an officer said on Tuesday.

Raj Kumar Singh, 25, was arrested on May 11 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from Muzaffarnagar in connection with Chandranath Rath's murder in West Bengal.

Rasra Circle Officer (CO) Alok Gupta said Raj Singh was booked in two cases at the Rasra Police Station and one at the Gadwar Police Station.

Charge Sheets have been filed against the Ratopur village native in these cases, he said.

Rath, the executive assistant to Adhikari, was shot dead in Madhyamgram on May 6, two days after the declaration of the fiercely fought West Bengal Assembly Polls results.

The incident took place on a public road at Doharia in the Madhyamgram area.

Raj Singh was one of the three arrested in the wake of the killing.

Meanwhile, Gupta said Raj Singh earlier worked at ONGC in Mumbai. After quitting his job, he returned to his village and began working as a driver. He aspired to go abroad, but could not get a passport due to the legal cases against him.

Police records do not portray him as a major criminal, however, he is described as an impulsive youth who has been involved in cases involving physical altercations, and brooked little interaction with villagers, the CO said.

His father, Tribhuvan Narayan Singh, said Raj Singh studied for a year in a BA programme. He said he has no knowledge of whether he travelled to West Bengal.

The CBI took over the probe into Rath's murder from the West Bengal Police following a request from the state government.

The central agency has formed a seven-member special investigation team under a DIG of Special Crime from Delhi, officials earlier said.