Chandranath Rath was a close aide to Suvendu Adhikari, the West Bengal BJP chief tipped to become the next state chief minister
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAgence France-PressePublished: 1:47pm, 7 May 2026Gunmen on motorbikes in India’s West Bengal ambushed and killed a political aide from the ruling Hindu-nationalist party days after it swept state elections, police said on Thursday.Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a resounding victory on Monday in the eastern state of more than 100 million people, taking 207 of the 294 assembly seats, for its first-ever state victory in West Bengal.Chandranath Rath, 41, a close aide of West Bengal’s BJP chief Suvendu Adhikari, was shot dead late on Wednesday near his home in Kolkata.
Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, now tipped to become the state chief minister, called it “cold-blooded murder”.
Motorbikes blocked Rath’s vehicle, before the attackers opened fire in a barrage of around a dozen shots, hitting him multiple times in the heart.
