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Kolkata: Days after the murder of West Bengal's new Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's personal assistant Chandranath Rath, a UPI payment made by the occupants of the car that tailed Rath's SUV at a toll booth in Bally near Kolkata offers new hope that may lead to an arrest.

It has been reported that Rath's Mahindra Scorpio, was being followed for some distance and then blocked by a Nissan Micra car near his home in Madhyamgram on Wednesday. Rath, who was on the front passenger seat, was shot at point-blank range. The killers then changed their vehicle and fled the spot in a red car and a bike. The police have not arrested anyone in the case so far. 

While the car was tracked using CCTV footage, the bike was recovered in Barasat on Friday. Preliminary findings indicate that the red car and the motorcycles had been stolen.

Reports indicated that the assailants had prior information about where Rath would be seated inside the car. According to investigators, as many as eight people may have been involved in the killing. 

Investigators have also suggested that local criminal associates may have provided logistical support in the operation. Police teams have also been sent to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, since investigators believe that shooters have been brought in from these two states to carry out the murder. 

The Jharkhand Connection

Investigators have found that the assailants allegedly used a fake motorcycle number plate that was copied from a vehicle registered in Dhanbad. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) have traced the registration number used by the killers to a motorcycle belonging to Vibhash Bhattacharya, a SAIL employee posted in Dhanbad.

Who Was Chandranath Rath?

Chandranath Rath, who had joined the Indian Air Force through short service commission, shared a long association with Suvendu Adhikari that went back to the late 1990s, when both Rath and Adhikari families were linked to the Trinamool Congress.