Two Bharatiya Janata Party workers were among the 11 persons named in a chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the murder of an aide to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, PTI quoted unidentified officials as saying on Thursday.

Chandranath Rath was shot dead near Kolkata on May 6, two days after the West Bengal Assembly election results were declared. Adhikari, who became the chief minister on May 9, was not with Rath at the time of the attack. The BJP leader has alleged that it was a “pre-planned murder”.

Since taking over the investigation into Rath’s murder on May 12, the CBI has arrested 11 persons.

The two BJP workers named by the investigation agency are brothers Sagar Sonkar and Sahib Sonkar, The Hindu reported. They were arrested on August 1.

Sagar Sonkar had worked with Rath and was one of the key conspirators in his murder, an unidentified official was quoted as claiming by the newspaper. He allegedly arranged and financed the killing by hiring shooters from Uttar Pradesh.

He worked for an MLA from a rival political party until 2020, before joining the BJP, PTI quoted the CBI as claiming.

Among those arrested by the agency so far are six alleged contract killers – Sonu Singh, Raj Singh, Golu Singh, Mayank Raj Mishra, Vickey Maurya and Naveen Kumar Singh.

The CBI has also arrested three alleged middlemen – Vinay Rai, Sanjay Rai and Vikas Mishra. One suspect remains absconding, PTI reported.

Rath had reportedly been associated with Adhikari since 2018, handling political coordination and organisational work. He became the BJP leader’s executive assistant after Adhikari became the leader of the Opposition in West Bengal.

The Trinamool Congress had condemned Rath’s killing and expressed grief about the deaths of party workers in separate incidents of violence in the state. The party alleged that “BJP-backed miscreants” had been involved in post-poll unrest and called for a court-monitored CBI probe into the killing of Rath.

Edited by Sneha.

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