BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh on Thursday claimed he heard gunshots during a phone conversation with Chandranath Rath, a close aide of West Bengal CM-hopeful Suvendu Adhikari, moments before the latter was shot dead near Madhyamgram in North 24-Parganas.”I have no words. Chandranath was very close to all our MLAs in the Assembly. He was Suvendu da’s trusted aide. I have nothing more to say,” Ghosh told reporters at a private hospital in Madhyamgram. Ghosh claimed that he was speaking to Rath over the phone around 10 pm on Wednesday while returning from Ultadanga.”We were discussing Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed presence at a swearing-in programme at Brigade Parade Ground on Saturday. Suddenly, his voice changed. I heard some groaning sounds and then what seemed like gunshots. After that, there was silence,” the Siliguri MLA said.Ghosh said he repeatedly called Rath, but there was no response from the other end. “I sent him a message asking, ‘Are you alright?’ There was no reply. When I called again, an unknown person answered and informed me that Chandranath had been shot,” Ghosh said.The BJP alleged that the attack was “pre-planned”. Investigators suspect the involvement of professional shooters, with the police recovering vehicles carrying fake number plates. The police are examining CCTV footage and have formed multiple special investigating teams to trace the killers.Rath’s grieving mother alleged that the killing was linked to Mamata Banerjee’s defeat against Adhikari in Bhabanipur.”I would not have suffered so much had he died in an accident. He was targeted because he worked for Adhikari,” she told reporters.Adhikari said the Indian Air Force veteran was killed because of association with him and his victory in Bhabanipur, where he defeated TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. The TMC rejected the allegations, insisting the party had no role in the murder and accusing the BJP of politicising the incident even before the investigation was complete. The TMC demanded a court-monitored CBI investigation into the case.