The Assassination of Veteran and key Strategies Chandranath Rath

Tragedy Strikes Adhikar’s inner circle

The Man behind the leader (TOI Image)

Sneha Barua

7 May 2026: Chandranath Rath, the aide of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, was shot dead in a very bold attack in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. He had served twenty years in the Indian Air Force before becoming Suvendu Adhikari’s trusted political associate.

Rath was 41 years old and came from Chandipur in Purba Medinipur district. This place is very vital for Suvendu Adhikari’s rise in politics.​ Despite being part of Adhikari’s inner circle for years, he remained very soft-spoken and largely out of public attention.​

Ruth studied at the Ramakrishna Mission in Rahara and was deeply influenced by the institution’s spiritual ethos and disciplined atmosphere.  He later joined the Indian Air Force, where he served for close to 20 years before taking his voluntary retirement. After leaving the armed forces, he served briefly in the corporate sector, then finally he moved towards politics.

Rath joined Adhikari’s official team around 2019, when the latter was still a minister in the Mamata Banerjee government. Initially, he was involved in handling administrative responsibilities linked to Adhikar’s ministerial office and later continued in a similar role after the BJP leader switched camps.

​Over the years, Rath became a backroom operator in Adhikar’s political machinery. BJP insiders claimed that he enjoyed Adhikari’s complete trust and was often assigned sensitive political and campaign responsibilities to news agency PTI on Thursday.He was also part of the core team during several high-profile political battles. Within sections of the BJP, there had even been speculations that Rath could be given a larger administrative role if Adhikari assumed a bigger position in government, following the assembly elections reported by the Times of India on Thursday.

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According to investigations, Rath was returning to his Madhyamgram residence with aide Buddhadeb Bera when motorcycle-borne assailants allegedly intercepted their SUV near Doharia around 10:30 pm and opened fire at point-blank range. Rath got  bullet injuries on the chest and abdomen and was declared dead at a nearby hospital. West Bengal Police said CCTV footage from nearby areas. They were conducting raids to find the attackers. Till now, the police had found round fired cartridges and seized a suspicious vehicle.

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TMC criticised the incident and demanded a court monitored CBI probe. As political tensions continued to escalate across Bengal following the bitterly fought assembly elections.