DNA decodes operation GK-47: The Mexico-style killing of Suvendu Adhikari's aide

Since the declaration of election results on May 4, five people have been killed in Bengal, three linked to the BJP and two associated with the Trinamool Congress.

India is a country where political transitions happen through votes. But in West Bengal, even as the ballot boxes declared a new winner, bullets were already speaking a different language. The murder of Chandranath Rath, personal assistant to Suvendu Adhikari, is not just a crime story. It is a calculated message written in blood and delivered at one of the most sensitive moments in Bengal's political history.

Just 60 hours before the swearing-in ceremony of Bengal's new government, a professional hit squad struck in Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district. Chandranath Rath was returning home from Kolkata when the attackers closed in. Bikers approached from multiple directions. Between six and ten rounds were fired. Two bullets passed through his chest, while another hit his abdomen. By morning, he was dead.

Chandranath Rath murder: The man behind Suvendu Adhikari’s political operations

Suvendu Adhikari, the man most likely to become Bengal's next Chief Minister, rushed to a private hospital in Madhyamgram as soon as he heard the news. The next morning, he reached Barasat Hospital, where Chandranath's post-mortem was being conducted. For Adhikari, this was not merely a political loss. Chandranath was more than a personal assistant. Insiders described him as a trusted troubleshooter.

Chandranath Rath handled election management, logistics, organisational work, and communication with party workers on Suvendu Adhikari's behalf. From public messaging to poster campaigns, almost everything passed through his hands. He played a key role in both Nandigram and Bhawanipur. In Bhawanipur especially, where Suvendu defeated Mamata Banerjee, Chandranath reportedly managed the entire operation from behind the scenes.

The relationship between Chandranath's family and Suvendu Adhikari went back more than two decades. During the early expansion of the Trinamool Congress in Purba Medinipur, Chandranath's mother worked closely with Suvendu. When Suvendu later joined the BJP, the family followed him.

There was speculation that Chandranath would receive an important administrative role once Suvendu assumed a larger position in government. Chandranath had spent 20 years in the Indian Air Force. He also studied at Rahara Ramakrishna Mission and briefly worked in the corporate sector before entering politics in 2019. The Air Force gave him discipline, while Ramakrishna Mission shaped his ethics. Together, those experiences made him highly effective in organisational and back-end political operations.

Operation GK-47 decoded: How the ‘Mexico Model’ killing was executed

Now the question is not just who pulled the trigger. The bigger question is who ordered the killing and why.

The nature of the attack suggests this was not a random street crime. It was a carefully planned professional execution. Investigators believe the attackers conducted reconnaissance before the murder. They identified a 14-foot-wide stretch of road in Doharia, wider than the average lane in the area, and selected that exact point to trap Chandranath's vehicle.

The car was surrounded from three sides. Motorcycles approached from both flanks, while the road ahead was blocked. The attackers left the target with no escape route and no chance of survival.

Security experts often describe this method as the “Mexico Model.” In the 1980s, the Los Zetas cartel in Mexico, made up of former military commandos turned drug traffickers, popularised this tactic. The strategy involved blocking a target’s path and opening fire simultaneously from multiple directions.

The same method later appeared in Mumbai’s underworld during the gang wars involving Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan. The technique has remained the same over the decades. Only the geography has changed.

Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala was also killed using a similar strategy in Punjab’s Mansa district in 2022. His vehicle was intercepted, surrounded, and attacked moments later. Chandranath Rath appears to have been killed similarly.

The weapon used in the murder further points to professional planning. According to initial intelligence, the attackers used a Glock-47 pistol, referred to in some reports as the GK-47. The weapon is banned for sale in India. On the black market, it reportedly costs between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 10 lakh.

A standard Glock-47 magazine carries 17 rounds, while extended magazines can hold up to 33 rounds. In automatic mode, the weapon can fire rapidly like a compact machine gun. Investigators believe spending such a large amount on a sophisticated firearm for a single operation strongly indicates a contract killing.

Bengal political violence: Border escape routes and the growing climate of fear

The escape plan was equally calculated. The vehicle used by the attackers carried fake number plates. Investigators later discovered that the registration number had been copied from an OLX vehicle listing. When police traced the number, they found the original vehicle was still with its lawful owner.

After the shooting, the attackers abandoned the car and escaped through the narrow lanes of Doharia on motorcycles. Geography has now become an important part of the investigation.

The nearest major border crossing, Petrapole, lies around 75 to 80 kilometres from Madhyamgram. Under normal traffic conditions, the journey takes roughly two to two-and-a-half hours. Other border areas, such as Hakkimpur and Swarupnagar, are even closer and contain large stretches of open land leading toward Bangladesh.

As a result, investigators suspect the attackers may have entered from, or escaped into, Bangladesh. Officials say this possibility cannot be dismissed simply as speculation because the route itself makes such movement possible.

Another mysterious figure in the case is a man named Mintu. He was reportedly inside Chandranath's vehicle during the attack and drove him to the hospital afterwards. Since then, however, he has disappeared. No one has publicly seen or heard from him.

Despite her grief, Chandranath's mother, Hasirani, appealed for forgiveness even for the killers. But the violence did not stop with her son's death.

Within hours of Chandranath Rath’s killing, a BJP worker named Rohit Roy was shot dead in Bashirhat district. A few days earlier, the brother of BJP’s newly elected MLA from New Town constituency, Piyush Kanodia, had also been murdered.

Since the declaration of election results on May 4, five people have been killed in Bengal, three linked to the BJP and two associated with the Trinamool Congress.

The message being sent across the state is difficult to ignore. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, the most powerful weapon of violence is not death itself, but the fear that death creates. In Bengal today, someone appears determined to spread exactly that fear.

Also Read: 'I defeated Mamata and he was my PA': Suvendu Adhikari calls aide’s killing ‘premeditated murder’