Man claims custodial torture, fear of ‘encounter’ after wrongful arrest in Chandranath Rath case

Raj Singh, who was arrested in connection with the murder case of Chandranath Rath, personal assistant to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, alleged custodial torture and said he feared a “fake encounter” during his detention after being wrongly identified as an accused. Singh returned to his home in Ballia on Thursday after being acquitted by a CBI court. He claimed he had no connection with the murder case and was picked up due to confusion over a similar name.

According to Singh, he was detained by a Special Operations Group team on May 11 while returning from Ayodhya with his mother. He alleged that he was repeatedly pressured to confess involvement in the murder and threatened during interrogation. Singh said he was later taken to Kolkata, where he remained in police, CID and CBI custody for nearly 10 days. He claimed he feared being killed in a staged encounter because he was unfamiliar with the language and surroundings there.

Singh stated that investigators initially believed he was Rajkumar Singh, who was later identified by agencies as the main shooter in the Chandranath Rath murder case. He alleged that despite repeatedly denying involvement, officials did not listen to him and continued questioning him aggressively. Singh also claimed he was tortured in custody and accused investigators of trying to frame him in the case.

According to investigation officials, the CBI later informed the court that Raj Singh had no role in the murder case and sought his release. The agency subsequently arrested additional accused persons, including Vinay Rai and another suspect identified as Rajkumar Singh. Chandranath Rath, a former Indian Air Force personnel and aide to Suvendu Adhikari, was shot near Madhyamgram on May 6 and later died in hospital.