Chandranath Rath, an aide of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, was shot dead in a carefully planned manner near Kolkata airport.

New Delhi: A fake number plate, a Glock 47X pistol, several bike-riding professional shooters, and a point-blank ambush near Kolkata airport – shocking new details have emerged in the murder of Chandranath Rath, a close aide of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, as investigators probe what police and BJP leaders are calling a carefully planned attack.Rath, 42, who worked as Adhikari’s personal assistant and executive aide for nearly five years, was shot dead in North 24 Parganas late on Wednesday night when assailants stopped his SUV near Dohariya between Dolatala and Madhyamgram Chowmatha, barely a few kilometers from the Kolkata airport.According to the police, Rath was returning to his home in Madhyamgram from Kolkata around 10.30 pm when at least four motorcycle-riding assailants, allegedly following another four-wheeler, surrounded his vehicle and stopped it before opening fire at close range.Read more: 4 bikes, 8 gunmen and a blocked Scorpio: How Suvendu Adhikari’s aide was chased and ambushed near Kolkata airportPolice suspect that six to ten rounds of bullets were fired during the attack.Based on preliminary forensic inputs, police believe the attackers used sophisticated firearms, possibly a Glock 47X pistol. “Weapons of this nature are not usually used by ordinary criminals. We are investigating whether professional shooters or contract killers were involved,” a senior police officer told news agency PTI.West Bengal DGP Siddhinath Gupta said police recovered live cartridges, fired cartridges allegedly used during the operation and seized a suspected four-wheeler. However, the number plate on the vehicle was found to be fake and tampered.“The four-wheeler used in the crime has been seized, but it appears that the number plate is fake. We have recovered live cartridges and spent cartridges from the spot. CCTV footage and eyewitness accounts are being examined,” Gupta said after visiting the spot along with CRPF DG Gyanendra Pratap Singh.Preliminary findings suggest that the attackers, allegedly riding on four motorcycles, carried out the attack in a coordinated manner after chasing Rath’s SUV from near the airport area. Eyewitnesses claimed that another vehicle suddenly stopped Rath’s car at Dohariya, before the shooter came inside and fired repeatedly at point-blank range.As soon as Rath’s SUV stopped, the attackers came near the vehicle and fired indiscriminately at the front seats. Rath was hit in the chest and stomach, doctors later said that the bullets had hit his heart and stomach. Their driver Buddhadeb Bera was shot in the chest, stomach and leg and is in critical condition.An eyewitness described the murder as “pre-planned” and executed with precision.“As Chandra’s car crossed my car, it suddenly stopped in the middle, and a person riding a bike came and started firing from the left side of the car. The shooter seemed to be an expert and immediately ran away. The bullets were fired from very close range,” the witness told news agency ANI.Locals rushed Rath and Bera to a nearby private hospital, where doctors declared Rath brought dead.Hospital owner Pratim Sengupta said, “Rath was dead by the time he was brought. Bera was later shifted to another hospital.”The murder, which took place less than 48 hours after the West Bengal Assembly election results were declared, sparked a massive political storm.The official described the attack as a “brutal and premeditated murder” and alleged that the attackers had conducted reconnaissance before carrying out the ambush.Urging BJP workers not to retaliate, he alleged, “Reconnaissance was carried out for two to three days and the murder was thoroughly planned. This is the result of 15 years of Mahajungal Raj in Bengal.”West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya described the killing as a “planned and targeted attack” to send a political message, while BJP leaders including Agnimitra Paul, Swapan Dasgupta and Kaustav Bagchi alleged political motives behind the killing.The All India Trinamool Congress condemned the incident and demanded a court-monitored CBI probe, while also blaming “BJP-backed miscreants” for the post-poll violence elsewhere in the state.Meanwhile, police teams are scanning CCTV footage from the crime scene and surrounding roads to trace the shooters, who reportedly fled on motorcycles without helmets and without number plates to avoid identification.(with agency input)