Accused's counsel hails CBI probe into murder of Suvendu's aide; mother says son framed

Jamwanti Singh, Raj Singh's mother alleged that she and her son were picked up by the police while they were returning from Ayodhya, and he was later taken to Kolkata on a flight.

Ballia (UP): The counsel of the man arrested in connection with the murder of the aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has welcomed the CBI probe into the matter.

Advocate Harivansh Singh also accused the West Bengal Police of failing to adhere to legal procedure during the arrest of his client, Raj Singh.

He alleged that Raj Singh's arrest was officially recorded as taking place in Ayodhya, and the police ought to have obtained a transit remand from the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court to transport him to West Bengal.

Instead, the West Bengal Police took Raj Singh directly to Kolkata, he said.

Chandranath Rath, the executive assistant to Adhikari, was shot dead in Madhyamgram on May 6, two days after the declaration of the fiercely fought West Bengal Assembly Polls results.

On Monday, the West Bengal Police arrested three people, including Raj Singh, from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in connection with Rath's killing, pursuing leads from a UPI transaction made at a toll plaza by one of the suspects.

Jamwanti Singh, Raj Singh's mother, and a Rasra Post Office employee, claimed that her son was framed.

She alleged that she and her son were picked up by the police while they were returning from Ayodhya, and he was later taken to Kolkata on a flight.

She said that she and Raj Singh had gone to Lucknow on May 7 for the wedding of the daughter of Member of Legislative Council Ravishankar Singh alias Pappu Singh.

"Five people, including my son Raj Singh, his friend Monu Singh, a driver and a photographer, had gone there," she said.

On May 8, the group went to a dargah in Ambedkar Nagar district and stayed the night at a hotel near the shrine, she claimed.

"On the morning of May 9, after offering prayers at the shrine, we left for Ayodhya and later stopped at a roadside eatery for food. But just as we were leaving, a police team intercepted us and took us away," she said.

All five of them were detained in a police station, she said.

"On May 10 afternoon, police allowed me to meet Raj and informed me that he was being taken to Kolkata by flight," Jamwanti Singh said.

The CBI has registered an FIR in Rath's murder, taking over the investigation from the state police, officials said.

The CBI took over the probe following a request from the state government, they said.