Wrongful Arrest Sparks Political Storm in Suvendu Aide Murder Case

The investigation into the murder of a close aide of West Bengal leader Suvendu Adhikari has taken a dramatic turn after a BJP supporter, who was wrongly arrested in the case, was released following a clean chit from the CBI.

The controversy began after Chandranath Rath, an aide to Suvendu Adhikari, was shot dead by unidentified attackers on May 6. During the initial probe, Bengal Police identified the main shooter as Rajkumar Singh from Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh and alerted local authorities there.

However, Uttar Pradesh Special Operation Group officials reportedly detained the wrong person. A 28 year old man named Raj Singh, who belonged to the same region and shared a similar name, was taken into custody on May 10. At the time, he had attended a wedding function hosted by an MLA and later travelled to Ayodhya with his mother.

Police allegedly intercepted him while he was returning to Lucknow and handed him over to Kolkata Police. Soon after his arrest, photographs of Raj Singh with BJP leaders surfaced on social media, intensifying political speculation around the case.

The situation changed after the CBI stepped into the investigation. The agency later arrested the actual accused, Rajkumar Singh, in Muzaffarnagar on May 18. Another man, Naveen Kumar Singh from Ballia, was also arrested for allegedly supplying weapons used in the murder.

Following these developments, the CBI confirmed that Raj Singh had no involvement in the killing and cleared him of all charges. He was released from a Kolkata jail on May 20.

Speaking to the media after his release, Raj Singh accused Uttar Pradesh Police of illegally arresting him and forcing him to confess to a crime he never committed. He also claimed that officers threatened him with an encounter killing and subjected him to mental and physical harassment during custody.

Raj Singh said he spent every night fearing that he could be killed in a fake encounter. At the same time, he thanked the CBI for conducting what he described as a fair investigation and appealed to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to take strict action against the officers involved in his arrest.

The incident has now triggered a political confrontation. AAP leader Manish Sisodia accused authorities of misusing police powers and investigative agencies. He alleged that innocent people were being targeted without proper evidence and cited the arrest of a BJP supporter in this case as proof of serious flaws in the system.