- Monday, June 17, 2024
Police in both India and Bangladesh made some arrests and it was suspected that the mastermind had hired a woman to lure the slain leader to a house in Kolkata where he was brutally killed by a butcher.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE brutal murder of a Bangladeshi parliamentarian in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata earlier in May has left both sides of the border shocked. It is suspected that Anwarul Azim Anar was lured to a rented apartment in the New Town area of the city with the help of a woman as bait. There, he was allegedly smothered to death before a butcher skinned and chopped his body into small pieces for disposal at various areas within the city’s ambits, The Indian Express reported citing investigators.
While remains of his dismembered bodies were yet to be recovered by the investigators, the woman and the butcher were arrested along with two other persons after police in Kolkata and Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, conducted parallel investigations.
Probing teams from both cities were scheduled to visit the other to piece together their respective findings into the murder case.
A court in Dhaka on Friday (24) sent three persons that the country’s police arrested in connection with the murder to eight days of police custody, the Press Trust of India reported. The individuals are Tanvir, Shimul Bhuiyan and Silisti Rahman, the woman who reportedly returned to Dhaka after the high-profile murder.
The criminal investigation department of the police in the Indian state of West Bengal, of which Kolkata is the capital, also arrested the butcher, a Bangladeshi national and illegal immigrant in India, and produced him before a court which sent him to 12 days of police custody. He was identified as Jihad Hawaldar who lived and worked in the western city of Mumbai.
Read: Delhi, Dhaka probe Bangladesh MP murder
The 56-year-old Anar, who represented Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League in the parliament from Jhenaidah-4 constituency and was re-elected in January for the third time, had visited Kolkata for medical treatment. He went missing on May 13. His daughter had filed a case with a police station in Bangladesh on Wednesday (22).
The Indian Express report cited the investigators to say that Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman, a friend of the slain MP, allegedly masterminded the plot.
Read: Dismembered body of missing Bangladesh MP found in India’s Kolkata: report
A US citizen of Bangladesh origin, he allegedly had taken a flat on rent in Kolkata and roped in Rahman, Hawladar and two others to eliminate the parliamentarian.
The police also said that Akhtaruzzaman had brought Hawladar to Kolkata two months ago for the mission.
Akhtaruzzaman is believed to have fled India to Nepal after the mission was accomplished, they added.
Initial probe revealed that Hawladar that he skinned Anar’s body, minced the flesh to ruin the identity and put the pieces in polythene packets. He even cut the bones into small pieces and packed them separately.
CCTV footage also came to the light showing two persons, allegedly killers, leaving a flat with a suitcase and many plastic bags. The police found blood stains in the apartment while searching for the Bangladeshi leader.
