Madhyagram: The horrifying final moments of Chandranath Rath, the personal assistant to BJP heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, played out like a scene from a gritty crime thriller. Newly recovered CCTV footage has blown the lid off the sheer audacity of the hit, revealing that the assassination on Jessore Road was a highly coordinated, multi-vehicle ambush.
According to the harrowing visual evidence and eyewitness testimonies, the deadly trap was sprung at approximately 10:20 PM near Doharia. Rath was travelling in a Scorpio SUV, heading towards his Michaelnagar residence. The footage shows a pack of four motorcycles carrying eight unmasked armed men closely tailing the vehicle right after it crossed the airport stretch.
The execution was chillingly precise. In a flash, a smaller four-wheeler abruptly swerved in front of the SUV, violently cutting it off and forcing the driver to slam the brakes in the middle of a deserted stretch. With the target trapped, the bikers immediately boxed the car in.
Without a moment’s hesitation, gunmen on the left side of the vehicle opened fire straight through the front passenger window. Rath took at least three bullets to his chest, abdomen, and head, while his driver, Buddhadeb Bera, also sustained critical injuries. The assailants, brazenly riding without helmets, sped off into the night within seconds, leaving behind a blood-soaked crime scene.
Investigating officers have seized the decoy car and are meticulously running the CCTV grabs to identify the unmasked hitmen. For a state already reeling from intense post-poll turbulence, these visuals are a stark reminder of the ruthless and highly professional nature of political bloodletting in Bengal.