LUCKNOW, June 5 -- A history-sheeter and alleged gangster wanted for the murder of Chandranath Rath, former personal aide to West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, surrendered before a court in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district on Thursday, senior police officials said. The accused, Gyanendra Pratap Singh alias Monu, appeared before a Gangsters Act court in connection with an earlier case and was remanded to 14 days' judicial custody before being sent to Mau district jail. Ballia's Bansdih Road police station SHO VB Singh said the accused faces 12 criminal cases besides being named in the Rath murder case. A case under the Gangsters Act was registered against him in 2023. Defence counsel Kaish Singh said Gangster Court judge Harish Kumar sent his client to judicial custody. He added that a non-bailable warrant had been issued against the accused on May 25 after he failed to appear before the court. The lawyer also alleged that CBI officials had been pressuring Singh to surrender and had recently seized CCTV footage from his residence during the investigation. Meanwhile, the accused's wife, Mahima Singh, claimed her husband had been falsely implicated and expressed confidence in the agency's investigation. "My husband has been falsely implicated. We have full faith in the CBI and expect justice," she said, adding that CBI and police teams had repeatedly visited their residence and questioned family members. A video and Facebook post purportedly uploaded by Singh recently went viral on social media. In the post, he appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath for a fair probe and named several individuals whom he alleged were involved in the conspiracy. Rath was shot dead in Kolkata on May 6, triggering an investigation spanning West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The CBI took over the case on May 11 and registered an FIR the following day. On May 18, the agency arrested alleged triggerman Rajkumar Singh, a native of Ballia, from Muzaffarnagar. Earlier, the West Bengal Police SIT had detained Raj Singh from Ayodhya on May 10, but investigators later cleared him after concluding it was a case of mistaken identity. Investigators suspect the murder was carried out by an organised interstate network involving shooters and logistical coordinators. Officials are examining call records, WhatsApp chats and other digital evidence to identify all those involved. Further arrests are expected as the probe progresses....