Influential businessman Rajesh Jha, a.k.a. Raju, was murdered two days before he was to face interrogators from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Delhi on Monday in a multi-crore coal smuggling scam and the assassination was executed to perfection by a gang in a blue car that possibly received inputs about his travel plans, police said.

The assassins knew the SUV would stop near Langcha Hub in Shaktigarh on Saturday night, possibly according to a plan drawn up earlier, and timed the murder to perfection when Jha was seated in a seat beside the SUV's driver who had stepped out along with one of his two aides seated in the back.

"The murder has been made to appear as a sudden firing of bullets by criminals who reached by car, fired and fled. But it isn't that simple. We don't rule out the possibility of Raju Jha's close aides being involved in passing real-time information about his travel," said a senior police officer.

Unidentified goons shot dead Jha, a businessman with alleged links in coal-smuggling, on Saturday evening on NH2 at Shaktigarh near Burdwan town.

Jha who owns several businesses, including a luxury hotel in Durgapur town, joined the BJP in presence of then party state president Dilip Ghosh before the 2021 Assembly elections.

Investigating officials also said that the SUV Jha was travelling with three more persons including the driver — is registered (WB 48D 7032) in the name of Abdul Latif — believed to be close to Birbhum Trinamul chief Anubrata Mondal, one of the prime accused in the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam probed by the CBI and ED.

Latif is officially absconding.

Police said while interrogating the driver they came to know Latif was in the car and had got down before the firing. Latif could not be traced yet.

Police said initially Jha was sitting in the rear seat when the vehicle started from Durgapur around 6pm on Saturday. "Latif was in the front seat where Jha was later found murdered. The driver told us that somewhere between Galsi and Burdwan, Jha and Latif swapped seats on Latif's request," said an investigating officer.

Police said it was suprising why Jha was in a car belonging to an absconder.

"We are also surprised why Latif got down from his car just before the murder and why he requested Jha to swap seats. We have to check if all this has any link with the murder," said the officer.

Investigating officers said Jha was on his way to Calcutta from Durgapur to catch a flight to Delhi on Sunday. Three more persons, including the driver were with him in an SUV that stopped at Shaktigarh for refreshments when the assailants in a blue car stopped in front of it and fired six rounds at Jha. Another person, Bratin Mukherjee, seated in the rear seat, suffered bullet injuries in his left wrist. Jha, who received six bullets in his chest and abdomen, reportedly died instantly.

Police later found the blue Maruti Baleno bearing a registration number WB 06P 3454 abandoned at Borshul beside the highway near Palsit toll plaza. Five fake number plates, two empty liquor bottles and two rounds of empty cartridges were found inside the locked car.

Police said a forensic team would examine that car.

Police said that the assailants might have escaped by train from either Shaktigarh or Palsit stations to avoid police checking on the highway.

While probing the murder of the alleged coal smuggling kingpin, police found that after a gap of six years of his involvement in the illegal coal trade, Jha had again recently started collecting "protection money" between Rs 1,000 and Rs 700 per tonne of coal from traders who purchase coal from the Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) through auction.

"His fresh involvement in the illegal trade after six years might have invited rivalry from his opponents. For now, we are probing all angles," said a senior police officer.

Jha, 55, a Class IX dropout, started out as helper in trucks carrying smuggled coal and went on to became an alleged smuggling kingpin in the region for over one-and-a-half decades. Several cases of coal smuggling were filed against him in various police stations in West Burdwan, Bankura and Dhanbad. In the past, Jha was also arrested by the police and the CID several times, and was out on bail.