Two-wheeler used in murder of Suvendu aide traced to Burnpur address
The Statesman | 8 May 2026
Police have seized the two-wheeler allegedly used by the assailants in the murder of Chandranath Rath, personal assistant to Suvendu Adhikari.
Investigators traced the vehicle’s registration to the ISP Burnpur Township, raising fresh questions in the case.
The motorcycle is registered at AB 7/12 Quarter in Nepali Dhaora of the SAIL ISP Township in Burnpur, under the jurisdiction of Hirapur Police Station in the Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate (ADPC).
The occupant of the quarter, Dharmendra Kumar, told investigators that he is an employee of ISP and has been residing there for the past 14 years. Before that, he lived near Dolly Lodge in Asansol.
However, the motorcycle is registered in the name of one Bibhas Kumar Bhattacharya. Dharmendra Kumar expressed surprise on learning that a vehicle had been registered using the address of his official residence.
“I neither own any motorcycle nor know that person. I shifted here after the quarter was allotted to me by ISP SAIL, a Central Public Sector Unit,” he reportedly told police.
Officers from Hirapur police station and the Detective Department (DD) of the ADPC are jointly investigating the case after receiving inputs from Madhyamgram police.
Police sources said CCTV footage has already been examined and investigators have obtained several important leads regarding the assailants. Mobile call-dumping technology is also being used to determine who handled the suspects during the operation.
Investigators suspect that contract killers may have been hired for the high-profile murder.
The case has once again drawn attention to several unsolved murder cases in the ADPC area, including those of former MLA Dilip Sarkar in Burnpurand many others.
Incidentally, SIM cards used in the Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad on 18 May, 2007, were reportedly purchased from Asansol. Despite repeated raids and interrogations, the CBI could not establish the Asansol link.
Leaders of both the Congress and CPI-M in Asansol are now demanding that these high-profile cases be reopened and the culprits brought to justice.