The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet on Thursday (August 6, 2026) against 11 accused in the murder of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant, Chandranath Rath.
Two brothers were arrested in relation to the crime and were named as accused in the case.
The two brothers, Sagar Sonkar and Sahib Sonkar, residents of north Kolkata were arrested on August 1 for close links with the assassins, officials said. They said that Sagar had previously worked with Rath and was one of the key conspirators who helped in conspiring the murder.
The central agency is also investigating links of the murder with a rival political party after call records allegedly showed repeated calls with a local party office. CBI officials have also said that the conspiracy may have been in the works since December 2025 and was well planned out.
One of the accused, Sagar had reportedly ordered the contract killing of Rath and hired the trained assassins from Uttar Pradesh for the job. During investigation it has also been learnt that Sagar had previously worked with a rival political party, before shifting to the Bharatiya Janta Party.
On May 6, two days after the BJP won the elections for the first time in West Bengal, Rath was gunned down in a moving vehicle by bike-borne assassins on the outskirts of Kolkata in the Madhyamgram area. He was hit by bullets at a point blank range and collapsed on the spot. Massive attention was drawn to this high-profile murder as three accused were arrested from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as political mud-slinging continued.
Till now officials have arrested contract killers — Monu Singh, Raj Singh, Golu Singh, Mayank Raj Mishra, Vickey Maurya, and Naveen Kumar Singh. They have also arrested middlemen Vinay Rai, Sanjay Rai, and Vikas Mishra. One of the accused remains absconding, according to officials.
The CBI took over the investigation on May 12 as Uttar Pradesh Congress claimed that one of the arrested accused has close links to the BJP.
Published - August 07, 2026 11:58 am IST
Source: The Hindu - India News
