BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari's aide shot dead in West Bengal
The victim, Chandranath Rath, who served as Adhikari’s executive assistant, was attacked on a public road in the Doharia area of Madhyamgram.
The personal assistant of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari was shot dead by unidentified assailants in India's North 24 Parganas district last night (6 May), reports PTI, citing Trinamool Congress (TMC) sources.
The victim, Chandranath Rath, who served as Adhikari's executive assistant, was attacked on a public road in the Doharia area of Madhyamgram. He sustained critical injuries in the shooting and was rushed to a private hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
According to available information, the assailants followed Rath's car, intercepted it, and fired at him through the rolled-up window from the opposite side before fleeing the scene. Rath was seated beside the driver at the time of the attack.
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Speaking to the media, BJP leader Koustav Bagchi said, "Assailants on a motorcycle were trailing Rath's vehicle before intercepting it near Doharia. They fired indiscriminately while he was still inside the car."
Officials said another person travelling with Rath in the vehicle was also injured in the attack and taken to hospital.
No arrests have been made so far in connection with the incident.
Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly, is considered a frontrunner for the chief minister's post following the BJP's landslide victory in the recent state elections, which ended the rule of Mamata Banerjee's TMC.
Rath was known to have played a key role in Adhikari's election campaigns, including in Nandigram and Bhabanipur, where the BJP leader defeated Banerjee.
