West Bengal president Samik Bhattacharya on Thursday termed the killing of a close aide of senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari a “planned political murder” and alleged that the attack was aimed at creating instability in the state.
Speaking to reporters at Barasat Hospital, where the post-mortem of Chandranath Rath was conducted, Bhattacharya claimed the killing was a case of “targeted violence”.
Rath, who served as Adhikari’s executive assistant, was shot dead late Wednesday night after bike-borne assailants intercepted his vehicle near Doltala in Madhyamgram around 10.30 pm. According to police sources, the attackers forced the vehicle to stop and opened fire at point-blank range before fleeing the spot.
Bhattacharya questioned whether the attack was intended to send a political message to the BJP or to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to arrive in Kolkata in two days. He also said he would raise the matter with Governor R N Ravi.
The BJP leader linked the incident to what he described as a broader pattern of post-poll violence in the state, referring to recent killings of BJP workers and another shooting incident in Basirhat.
Calling the Barasat-Madhyamgram belt a “sensitive zone”, Bhattacharya alleged that the area had witnessed criminal activities such as the forging of Aadhaar cards, ration cards and voter identity documents allegedly used by infiltrators during the rule of the All India Trinamool Congress.
Issuing a warning to those behind such incidents, he said, “Our restraint should not be mistaken for weakness.”
Bhattacharya added that he could not disclose further details as the investigation was underway and the model code of conduct remained in force.
The ruling TMC denied any involvement in the killing and countered that three of its workers had allegedly been killed by BJP-backed miscreants over the past three days.
