Kolkata, May 12 -- The investigation into the murder of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's personal assistant Chandranath Rath was taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday following a recommendation from the West Bengal government.

According to sources, the CBI has formed a seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Pankaj Kumar Singh, to probe the murder. The team reached Kolkata on Tuesday afternoon and visited Doharia in Madhyamgram around 3.30 pm. After making brief inquiries, the officers left the area.

Sources said the SIT investigation will be supervised by the Joint Director of the CBI in Kolkata, who may also induct officers from the Kolkata unit of the agency as required for the probe. Rath was shot dead by unidentified assailants on May 6 at Doharia in Madhyamgram while he was returning home. During the investigation, police arrested three persons from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Sources said two of the accused - identified as Mayank Raj Mishra and Vicky Maurya - were detained from Buxar in Bihar, while another accused, Raj Singh, was detained from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh. The trio was brought to Madhyamgram and formally arrested on Monday morning.

Investigators have learnt that the vehicle used by the accused had been spotted near Barasat rail gate number 11. The car allegedly proceeded to Birati, where Mayank got down, before taking a U-turn towards Madhyamgram.

Meanwhile, according to Millennium Post's Lucknow correspondent Biswajeet Banerjee, sources in the investigation claimed that the conspiracy behind Rath's murder may have roots in eastern Uttar Pradesh, with investigators suspecting that the plot was hatched in Varanasi before being executed in North 24-Parganas.

Sources further claimed that a notorious shooter from Ghazipur and another from Buxar remain absconding. Investigators suspect that a Ghazipur-based criminal could be the kingpin behind the conspiracy to murder Rath.

According to the sources, the accused persons had boarded a train to Dhanbad from Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Junction. From there, they allegedly travelled to Kolkata in a Swift Dzire and a Nissan vehicle before Rath was shot dead in Madhyamgram.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.