Three held in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh in killing of Suvendu Adhikari’s aide

Three persons were held in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in connection with the murder of an aide to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, PTI reported on Monday.

The Hindustan Times reported that all three had been detained in Bihar by the West Bengal Police.

The persons were apprehended by a Special Investigation Team set-up to probe the killing of Chandranath Rath. He had been shot dead near Kolkata on Wednesday.

The men were identified as Vishal Srivastava, a resident of Bihar’s Buxar district, Mayank Mishra and Vicky Maurya, the newspaper reported.

Mishra and Maurya are from Uttar Pradesh, PTI quoted an unidentified officer as saying.

It was unclear if the three had been arrested.

The investigating team had been sent to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh following inputs based on technical surveillance and digital tracking, the news agency quoted an officer as saying.

The police suspect that at least eight persons were involved in the killing of Rath.

The motive behind the murder was unclear.

Rath was killed amid widespread political violence, and instances of alleged communal intimidation and vandalism, in West Bengal after the Bharatiya Janata Party defeated the Trinamool Congress in the Assembly elections.

He was travelling in a car to his home in Barasat when assailants, who were on motorbikes, intercepted the vehicle in the Madhyamgram area at about 10.20 pm. One of the suspects reportedly approached the...

Read more