Lawmaker of Jhenaidah-4 constituency Anwarul Azim Anar, who went to Kolkata on May 12 for medical treatment and had been missing since May 14, has been murdered.
Kolkata police have recovered the dismembered body of Anwarul Azim Anar, eight days after he went missing in India. According to Kolkata police, it was a premeditated murder.
“He was murdered and his body was sliced into pieces at a flat of Sanjeeva Garden in Kolkata’s New Town,” said a deputy police commissioner of Kolkata police.
The investigation is being conducted jointly by the police forces of Bangladesh and India, sources said.
Sources at Kolkata police said the flat belongs to an excise duty official. They said the flat had a biometric lock installed, and it took the police officials a while to get into the flat.
According to sources, the Special Task Force of India is looking into the case, and officials of the central investigation branch and Barrakpur detective branch are at the crime spot. Abdur Rauf, Azim’s personal secretary, also said they are yet to receive official information about the MP’s death.
“We haven’t received any official information about MP’s death, but his family are in Dhaka and stuck for visa application, waiting for Indian visa approval,” he said.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Kamal said three persons had been detained in Bangladesh in connection with the case.
The minister while talking to reporters at his Dhanmondi residence on Wednesday, hours after news broke that the MP had been found murdered in New Town, Kolkata, India, however refrained from sharing further information for the sake of investigation.
“The information we have so far is that people of our country are involved in the killing,” said the Home Minister.
The police forces of the two countries were working together on the matter, Asaduzzaman said, adding that the murder would not affect Dhaka-Delhi relations in any way.
“All information, including the motive, where the murder occurred
and who was involved in it, we will let you (journalists) know,” he said.
Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said several people were arrested following the murder. Police’s Detective Branch and Kolkata Police arrested two people.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) additional commissioner Mohammad Harun-or-Rashid said Anwarul Azim was brutally killed by some Bangladeshis in Kolkata.
“The incident is being investigated with due importance. This is a brutal killing. We have been investigating whether this was done for some familial or economic or to control any miscreant in the area. We have been closely working with the police in India in this regard… We’re receiving lots of information at every moment. I don’t want to disclose those details for the sake of investigation,” he added.
“MP Anwarul started for India from the parliament area. That is why a case will be filed at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station by today. His daughter sought our help and advice; we will help her filing the lawsuit,’’ he further said.
The DMP DB chief also said that they had detained several people in connection with the brutal killing of the Bangladesh MP.
“We’re not disclosing the names of the detained persons for the sake of investigation. The remaining persons will also be brought to justice.”
Anwarul Azim’s daughter Mumtarin Ferdaus spoke to the media at the DB office. She demanded exemplary punishment for her father’s killers.
MP’s family friend, Gopal Viswas, who was informed by the MP’s daughter of her inability to contact her father, lodged a missing person complaint at the Baranagar police station in Bidhannagar. Kolkata.
“On the morning of May 16, he (Anwarul Azim) called his assistant, but could not connect. Later, when his PA called him back, he did not answer,” according to the complaint dated May 18, 2024.
“His daughter called me (Viswas), and said, I can’t communicate with my father. Then I (Viswas) contacted all his (Anarul Azim’s) acquaintances on the phone, but it was not possible to contact him,” it added.
“I was then requested to come to Baranagar police station on May 18 to register the complaint in the missing diary,” a copy of the complaint said.
Anwarul Azim was last seen on the afternoon of May 13 when he went with friends to a home in Bidhannagar near Kolkata for a medical check-up.
According to a family friend in Kolkata’s Bidhannagar, the MP mentioned he would be travelling to Delhi, but there was no direct contact with him since May 13.
