Suvendu Adhikari reacts to aide’s killing: ‘Cold-blooded murder’, result of 15 years of TMC ‘Mahajungle Raj'

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari has described the gunning down of his close aide Chandranath Rath as a “cold-blooded murder” and alleged that the killing was the result of 15 years of TMC's “Mahajungle raj” in the state.

Although he declined to draw any conclusions as of now, Adhikari said preliminary investigations have found that the killers had conducted a recce before carrying out the attack in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, news agency PTI said.

Rath, Adhikari's executive assistant, was shot dead in a brazen attack at Madhyamgram on Wednesday night, two days after the election results. The killing has escalated tensions in the area, even as political parties trade barbs.

The BJP scripted a historic victory by bagging 200+ seats in the West Bengal Elections. The saffron party is all set to make its first government in the state, and Adhikari is a frontrunner to be the chief minister. Adhikari won two seats in the assembly election, including Bhabanipur, where he defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

According to preliminary information, motorcycle-borne assailants intercepted Rath's vehicle near Doltala in Madhyamgram around 10.30 pm, forced it to stop and opened fire at point-blank range before fleeing.

Speaking to reporters outside the hospital where Rath was taken after the attack, Adhikari termed the killing "heart-wrenching".

"The incident is heart-wrenching; we condemn it," the BJP leader said.

Adhikari said DGP Siddhnath Gupta had assured him that the matter would be investigated.

"This is a cold-blooded murder. The DGP has assured that they will probe the matter thoroughly," he said.

The leader of the opposition claimed the attackers appeared to have conducted a recce for a few days before executing the shooting. "The way the attack was executed clearly suggests that the assailants had done a recce beforehand," he alleged.

Appealed to BJP workers to maintain peace

Adhikari, however, stopped short of directly naming any organisation behind the attack and appealed to BJP workers to maintain peace. "We don't want to draw any conclusion as of now, as police are investigating the matter," he said.

"We would appeal to everyone not to take the law into their own hands," he added.

The BJP leader claimed that incidents of violence against party workers were continuing in different parts of the state after the assembly election results.

"While we were here, one of our cadre was shot at in Basirhat, and another was stabbed in Baranagar area," he alleged.

Adhikari said he had already spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President Nitin Nabin regarding the killing.

Launching a scathing attack on the outgoing TMC government, Adhikari described the prevailing situation in the state as "Mahajungle Raj".

“This is the result of 15 years of ”Mahajungle Raj" in Bengal," he said.

Adhikari asserted that strict action would be taken against criminals after the BJP forms the government in the state. "When the BJP government takes charge, we will start the job of checking these criminals," he said.

Who was Chandranath Rath?

Rath, a former Indian Air Force personnel and one of Adhikari's closest aides, succumbed to injuries after being taken to a private nursing home on Jessore Road.

Another person travelling in the vehicle was critically injured in the attack.

Police have launched an investigation and are examining CCTV footage from nearby areas to identify the attackers and ascertain the motive behind the killing.

The incident has triggered a political slugfest between the BJP and the TMC amid continuing allegations of post-poll violence in several parts of the state.

(With PTI inputs)