Kolkata, July 31 (IANS) Two more persons, Sagar Sonkar and Sahib Sonkar, who were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the murder of Chandranath Rath, the executive assistant of the West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, were remanded to seven days of CBI custody by a special CBI court in Kolkata on Friday evening.
Although both were presented at the CBI court in Kolkata on Friday, the central agency officials in Kolkata have remained tight-lipped about the place from where they were arrested or the time of the arrest.
The CBI officials have also remained vague of the political affiliation of the two persons, though claiming that once they had connection with the Trinamool Congress, the previous ruling party in West Bengal.
However, an insider from the probe agency said that though earlier associated with the Trinamool Congress, the two accused officially shifted to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the recent West Bengal Assembly polls.
However, that insider added, investigation had revealed that the arrested duo was in touch with several influential Trinamool Congress leaders.
The central agency officials have secured some crucial information on this count by intercepting some of their telephonic conversations.
Further investigation in the matter is underway.
With the two arrests, the total number of arrests in the case have risen to 11.
Chandranath Rath was murdered at Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal while he was on his way back home on the evening of May 6 this year, that is nearly two days after the results of the Assembly elections in West Bengal were declared which marked BJP’s landslide victory ousting the 15-year-old Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in the state from 2011 to 2026.
The initial investigation on Rath’s murder was started by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police and later the charge of the probe was handed over to the CBI.
A former Indian Air Force (IAF) associate, Rath had been serving as Suvendu Adhikari’s executive assistant since the current Chief Minister was the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.
–IANS
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