The special investigation team probing the murder of Chandranath Rath, the personal assistant of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, is looking at gangsters in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha to find the killers, who have evaded the police net for more than 36 hours.

Police investigations have already confirmed that the vehicles used in the incident were fitted with fake number plates. The registration plate used in the car has been traced to a Siliguri resident, who has confirmed his vehicle was parked outside his door when the murder happened. The Siliguri cops have also verified the claim. Similarly the number plate used in one of the motorbikes was traced to a resident of Burdwan, whose bike was with him.

According to sources one person from Uttar Pradesh showed interest in buying the car from the Siliguri resident when he made a post to sell it on a buy-and-sell portal.

A motorbike, suspected to be the second one used in the attack, was found near a railway gate in North 24-Parganas Barasat, and has been sent for forensic examination.

Of the two motorbikes used in the attack one was reported stolen by its owner, a resident of Dum Dum, two months ago.

On Wednesday night, Rath barely 200 metres away from his home was shot dead, while the driver of his vehicle was critically injured. A third passenger in the SUV that Rath was travelling escaped unhurt.

Since the murder the cops have been going through CCTV footage of the vehicles involved in carrying out the act.

The fateful night Rath had left Nizam Palace on AJC Bose road and headed towards his residence. The Kolkata Police is checking footage from the cameras looking for any suspicious vehicle that could have been trailing him.

Before heading to Nizam Palace, Rath was at the state Assembly. According to sources the CCTV cameras installed outside the gate of the Assembly are monitored by the Kolkata Police. Whether he was followed while entering the Assembly earlier in the day or after he left is being verified.

The Nissan Micra used in the attack, which was left abandoned at the scene with fake number plates, was spotted in a CCTV camera in North 24-Parganas Nimta, barely kms from where Rath was murdered, towards the evening.

It is suspected that the assailants took the Nivedita Setu to enter this side of the river Hooghly, before proceeding towards Madhyamgram’s Doharia.

CCTV footage at the toll plaza off the Nivedita Setu and in the petrol pumps on the route is being looked into to trace the movements of the killers.