Archive · 31 Jul 2026
CBI Arrests Two BJP Workers in Suvendu Adhikari Aide Murder
A man named Chandranath Rath, who helped the West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, was shot dead in May 2024.
Two men, Sagar Sonkar and Sahib Sonkar, who used to work for the same political party, were arrested by the CBI.
They might have hired people to kill Rath.
The CBI is looking into whether politics played a role.
The two men are being held for a week while the investigation continues.
CBI arrested two BJP workers, Sagar Sonkar and Sahib Sonkar, in the murder of Suvendu Adhikari’s aide Chandranath Rath.
The brothers had previously worked for Rath and had ties to the Trinamool Congress before joining the BJP.
Rath was shot dead on 6 May 2024 in Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas, two days after West Bengal’s election results.
A special CBI court remanded the two men to seven days of custody; the case now has 11 arrests, including shooters and coordinators.
Investigators are probing a possible political angle, with evidence of landline calls and contact with Trinamool leaders.
- Who
- Suvendu Adhikari’s aide Chandranath Rath, arrested suspects Sagar Sonkar and Sahib Sonkar, and the Central Bureau of Investigation
- What
- Murder of Rath and subsequent arrests of two BJP workers suspected of a contract killing
- When
- Murder on 6 May 2024; arrests and remand in early May 2024
- Where
- Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, India
- Why
- Investigators suspect a politically motivated contract killing linked to former Trinamool Congress contacts
- Suspects arrested
- Sagar Sonkar, Sahib Sonkar
- Victim
- Chandranath Rath
- Date of murder
- 6 May 2024
- Location
- Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal
- Agency
- Central Bureau of Investigation
- Total arrests
- 11
- Remand period
- 7 days
