Four days since the murder of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant Chandranath Rath and police are yet to make any arrest, with the ongoing probe hinging on the testimony of the 33-year-old survivor in the car. While the Special Investigation Team (SIT) claims to have identified several suspects and questioned seven individuals, there hasn’t been any major breakthrough yet, officials said, citing the “fragile mental health” of their witness and the need to maintain the “integrity of a high-stake probe”.
According to officials, the investigation now largely hinges on Montu Mondal, a resident of Barasat, who survived the attack on Wednesday by a stroke of logistical luck. According to his brother, a lawyer named Jhantu, Mondal’s habit of sitting in the rear left of the SUV and not in the middle where files were kept rendered him “invisible” to the shooters.
As a hatchback blocked their path and unidentified bike-borne gunmen fired shots from the left, Mondal instinctively slumped into the gap between the seats, officials said, adding, that he was so much in shock that even after the shooters fled, he refused to lower the windows for rescuers until he was absolutely certain the threat had passed.
As investigators scrutinise Nath’s call logs and Mondal’s detailed account to reconstruct the routes and potential surveillance leading up to the attack, two leads are at the centre of the investigation — a phone call that led the police team to a Siliguri-based owner of a car, whose number plate was used in the hatchback used to stall Nath’s SUV, and a UPI transaction made at a toll plaza in Hooghly, officials said.
According to officials, the silver hatchback used to block Rath’s SUV was found to have a fake number plate linked to a vehicle in Siliguri, whose photos were likely lifted from an online sales portal to create the “clone” vehicle. This prompted a team of Bengal investigators to travel to Uttar Pradesh, as they look for links between the local planners and out-of-state hitmen.
According to an officer, the silver car crossed the Bally toll plaza shortly before the attack, and the occupants paid the toll through UPI.
“The UPI transaction helped the investigators identify a mobile number linked to one of the suspects. CCTV footage from the toll plaza also captured images of the vehicle and its occupants,” the officer told news agency PTI.
The CID and the STF have jointly formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case.
Investigators have also identified the weapon allegedly used in the murder as an Austrian-made Glock 47X pistol, a sophisticated firearm whose use has rung alarm bells among both state and central intelligence agencies.
“A Glock pistol is not easily available in India. Its use prompted investigators to examine whether there could be any international or cross-border link behind the crime,” the officer said.
A police officer said all possible angles, including personal enmity and criminal motives, are being examined.
“No theory has been ruled out at this stage. The investigation is progressing on multiple fronts,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)