Weapons used in Suvendu’s PA murder seized, another arrested in Ballia

Varanasi: Police recovered three pistols and two revolvers allegedly used in the May 6 murder of West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari’s personal assistant, Chandranath Rath, following the arrest of another accused in Ballia on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.

In a joint operation with STF’s Varanasi field unit, CBI arrested Naveen Kumar Singh of Thamnahanpura from Bisuneepur. An FIR under the Arms Act was lodged at Fefna police station on May 20. STF’s seizure list included a 9mm pistol, two .32 bore pistols, two revolvers, 45 live cartridges, nine empty shells, and a mobile phone.

During initial questioning, Naveen told officials that Gyanendra Pratap Singh alias Mannu of Sheetal Dawani had come to his house in a car on May 7 with associates Rajkumar Singh and Golu Singh. Mannu handed him a bag of arms and ammunition and asked him to keep it at home. Naveen claimed that he panicked after seeing the news of Rajkumar’s arrest and hid the bag in his warehouse along NH-31. The STF later took him to the warehouse and recovered the cache.

The CBI has also intensified its search for Gyanendra, who allegedly purchased a second-hand Nissan Micra from a local, Satyam Singh, which was later used in the crime. Navin and Gyanendra came under the CBI radar following the interrogation of recently arrested Rajkumar Singh and Vinay Rai, alias Pumpum, from Ballia and Varanasi.

Before Naveen’s arrest, the CBI team had visited the place of Satyam, who sold the second-hand car to the Ballia-based contract killer Gyanendra. Satyam’s father, Jitendra Singh of Phulwaria village, said CBI sought details of the car. Satyam had bought it from a Lucknow resident through his friend Deepak alias Mithu for Rs 35,000 in Oct 2025. Despite repeated requests, Mithu kept delaying the transfer of papers to Satyam’s name. On May 1, Mithu convinced Satyam to sell the car to Mannu for Rs 50,000. Again, no registration transfer was done.

Agencies are now hunting for Gyanendra, their prime target. Active in crime since 2006, he has 12 cases — mostly murder — and was booked under the Gangsters Act in 2023.

As the search intensified, an old video of him firing 30 rounds in rapid succession at village head Mukesh Singh went viral on social media. Photos of Gyanendra and Rajkumar with arms have also surfaced.

Rajkumar Singh of Ratpur village, Rasra, Ballia, was returning from Haridwar when CBI caught him at a Muzaffarnagar toll plaza on May 17. Another prime accused, Vinay Rai alias Pumpum of Ghazipur, wanted since May 9, was arrested from the Police Lines area in Varanasi on May 19 evening.