Vehicles with fake number plates were used to target and kill Chandranath Rath, personal assistant to Suvendu Adhikari, the outgoing Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, late on Wednesday night (May 6, 2026), according to the West Bengal police. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to probe the attack, and forensic experts have visited the scene of the crime in North 24 Parganas, Madhyamgram.

“If he was not my aide or I did not defeat [outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee] in Bhabanipur, maybe they would not have targeted Rath. His crime was being my personal assistant,” Mr. Adhikari said, after visiting his aide’s family at the Barasat Medical College and Hospital where a post-mortem was being conducted on Rath’s body.

Alleging that this was a targeted attack by hired assassins who had recced the location for a week before carrying out the murder, the BJP leader called for the killers to face the death penalty.

Car, getaway bike used fake plates

Rath, 41, was in a white SUV when he was shot three times at point-blank range and sustained severe injuries. He was declared dead after he was rushed to a nearby private hospital. A silver car used by the attackers was abandoned near the crime spot, and the culprits reportedly fled the spot on two-wheelers. The four-wheeler has been seized by the police. 

“The number plate of the car was tampered with because the original registration number is from Siliguri. This was a fake number plate. We have collected evidence from the spot. We are conducting further investigation,” Director General of West Bengal Police Siddhi Nath Gupta said in the early hours of Thursday. One of the motorbikes used to flee the crime scene has also been recovered, and is also reported to have used a fake number plate. 

Rath, fondly remembered as Chandra, was a pilot by profession, but had quit and held a private job for some time before he started working for Mr. Adhikari eight years ago. He had a residence in Madhyamgram’s Doharia area which is where he was heading on Wednesday night when he was shot dead. 

“I heard gunshots and ran to the place. The car had three people, two of them were bleeding, and one was crying for help. But they were still alive and breathing, so we asked them to rush to the hospital where he was declared dead,” Sushanta Sarkar, a BJP worker and a resident of Doharia, told The Hindu on Thursday. He was one of the eyewitnesses who helped rescue the victims. 

‘Heaven for criminals’

After the post-mortem, a massive crowd gathered inside the hospital and mourners, BJP leaders, and workers paid their respects to Rath before his body was taken to his family home in Purba Medinipur district’s Chandipur area, which is also Mr. Adhikari’s native place.

BJP State president Samik Bhattacharya, who visited the State-run hospital again on Thursday (May 7) morning, said that West Bengal has become a “heaven” for criminals thanks to the 15-year tenure of the Trinamool Congress government in the State.

“Yesterday’s incident proves the current state of law and order in West Bengal. In the last 15 years, they have destroyed the administration and politicised the police and have made all the criminals free of fear,” Mr. Bhattacharya said. 

‘Revenge killing’

Rath’s grieving mother told reporters that this was a revenge killing because her son worked for the BJP. “As a mother, I cannot seek death for anyone. But I will demand life imprisonment for the culprits,” she said.

The Trinamool Congress was quick to condemn the attack. “We demand the strongest possible action in this matter, including a court-monitored CBI investigation so that those responsible are identified and brought to justice without delay,” said a post on the TMC’s official handle on X.

Another BJP worker also shot on Wednesday night in Bashirhath has sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment. 

Post-poll violence

West Bengal police said that at least two deaths have been reported since May 4, when the Assembly election results were declared, though it has not been confirmed whether they were due to post-poll violence alone. At least 200 FIRs have been filed, 433 arrests have been made, and 1,100 other preventive arrests have been made. 

People carrying BJP flags bulldozed a TMC party office in the heart of Kolkata in the New Market area on Tuesday evening. Though the Kolkata police said that action would be taken against officers who were present at the site, no such action has yet been carried out.

Multiple incidents of vandalism, clashes, and arson have been reported from multiple parts of the State after the landslide victory of the BJP which also left the TMC with a humiliating loss in the Assembly after 15 years. 

Published – May 07, 2026 09:19 pm IST

In this image received on May 6, 2026, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant Chandranath Rath was shot at from close range by unidentified assailants in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Wednesday (May 6, 2026) night, sources said.
| Photo Credit: PTI