Mumtarin Ferdoush Dorin is distraught. Looking back, she rues the fact that she could not travel with her father – Bangladesh MP Anwarul Azim Anar of the ruling Awami League – to Kolkata a few weeks ago.
Anar was allegedly murdered in a flat in Kolkata's New Town in West Bengal on the night of 13 May. His body is yet to be found.
"The killers inflicted such terrible pain on my father. I will never forget this in my life. How can a person kill another human being in this manner?" Mumtarin asks.
"I want authorities to recover his body. I want to give him a dignified funeral," she tells The Quint.
Anar had arrived in Kolkata on 12 May for medical treatment. Mumtarin recalled that her father wanted to take her along with him for treatment, but she could not go as she did not have a visa.
"On 9 May, he left his official residence at Manik Mia Avenue in Dhaka for his village home in Jhenaidah, a district in southwestern Bangladesh. I last spoke to him at around 4.45 am on 11 May over the phone. Then, on 13 May, I received a message on my WhatsApp from him, saying that he had gone to Delhi with a VIP and that he would be travelling to New Town from Delhi for a job assigned by a person named Amit Saha and that there was no need to call him."
Arrests have been made on both sides of the border in connection with the case. While the Kolkata Police arrested a Bangladeshi butcher named Jihad Hawaldar, who was allegedly illegally living in Mumbai, on 24 May, the police in Bangladesh have arrested three suspects so far – Amanulla Sayeed (alias Shimul Bhuiyan, Shihab, Fazl Mohammad Bhuiyan), 56, Tanvir Bhuiyan, 30, and Celesty Rahman, 22.
The mastermind behind the killing, Akhtaruzzaman alias Shahin Mia, who is a naturalised United States citizen, has, however, fled to America via Delhi and then Kathmandu in Nepal on 20 May, the Dhaka Police said.
An accused who was arrested in connection with the murder of Bangladeshi MP Anwarul Azim Anar being produced at a local court, at Barasat in North 24 Parganas district.
(Photo: PTI)
What Happened?
As per investigators in Dhaka and Kolkata, Anar had arrived in Kolkata on 12 May for medical treatment and stayed at his friend Gopal Biswas' residence in the Baranagar area for two days before he went missing.
Anar told his friend Gopal Biswas on the afternoon of 13 May that he had a doctor's appointment and that he would be back by that evening. When he didn't, Biswas filed a complaint with the local police on 18 May.
Investigators from the Crime Investigation Department (CID) and Bangladesh Police told the media that after strangling Anar, the perpetrator(s) allegedly dismembered the body inside a washroom in the New Town flat. They reportedly skinned the body, removed the flesh, and minced it into 80 pieces to prevent identification. They then disposed it of across the city.
Akhtaruzzaman hired a hitman for Rs 5 crore to carry out the murder, The Daily Star newspaper reported quoting sources in intelligence agencies in Dhaka and Kolkata. But these men were never paid the Rs 5 crore, the newspaper added. It added that the assailants were operatives of the Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP).
They also claimed that Anar may have been "lured to the flat by a woman." The woman is reportedly a Bangladeshi who is the girlfriend of the prime accused Akhtaruzzaman Shahin, Bangladesh Police told the media.
"Anar was most likely lured into the New Town flat by a woman. The CCTV footage showed the MP entering the flat with a man and a woman. The duo came in and out of the flat later, but the MP never emerged again. The duo later came out of the flat with a massive suitcase," a Kolkata Police officer told The Quint on condition of anonymity.
The upscale apartment in a gated community in north Kolkata where the incident occurred is owned by Sandwip Roy, an excise department employee, who, in turn, had rented it out to Akhtaruzzaman, the officer added.
'Murder Had been Planned in Advance'
Harun Or Rashid, additional commissioner (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Quint that the plot to murder the MP was hatched 2-3 months ago.
"Several meetings were held at Aktaruzzaman's flats in Gulshan and Bashundhara area of Dhaka. The suspects could not carry out the murder here [Bangladesh] because of Dhaka Metropolitan Police's vigilance. As they were aware that the lawmaker often visited Kolkata, they made a plan and rented a flat there on 25 April," he said.
He further said, "On 30 April, Aktaruzzaman, his girlfriend, and hitman Amanullah, flew to Kolkata and went to the flat in New Town area. On 13 May, when Anar left his friend Gopal Biswas's house, a suspect named Foysal picked him up in a white car and took him to the flat. The MP entered the flat around 2.51 pm, and the suspects executed their plan within the next half an hour. They kept Azim's phone active and sent messages to different people to fool the law enforcers," he told The Quint.
Rashid added that Amanullah and Aktaruzzaman's girlfriend returned to Bangladesh on 15 May, while the other suspects Mustafiz (who is missing and has not been caught) returned on 16 May and Foysal on 17 May.
A Partnership Gone Sour?
While the police is still probing the motive behind the murder, initial investigations suggest that it could be the result of a fallout between the MP and the main accused over a business deal gone awry.
The Daily Star newspaper reported that Aktaruzzaman and the MP allegedly ran a gold smuggling racket until they fell out last year.
Quoting an investigator, the newspaper reported that Aktaruzzaman used to smuggle gold bars into Bangladesh from Dubai, while Anar made sure the consignment reached the hands of the right people in India through his syndicate. In return, the syndicate was paid a commission.
However, last year the MP demanded a bigger cut for himself. But Aktaruzzaman snubbed the MP's proposal, and it created a rift between the two. He instead chose a new syndicate to smuggle his gold. This new syndicate is reportedly led by a former MP. This angered Anar even more.
Moreover, in the last six months, several large shipments of gold were seized at the Indian border and Aktaruzzaman suspected the MP to be behind it. These consignments contained gold worth about Rs 200 crore.
"It angered Aktaruzzaman who repeatedly pressured the MP to get back the gold. Aktaruzzaman then started asking back the money (Rs 200 crore) from the MP. The MP and Aktaruzzaman met several times in the last six months to settle the matter, and the former persistently refused to pay Aktaruzzaman. The latter then decided to have him killed," the investigator added.
A source in the Bangladesh Police told Ajker Patrika, a Bengali newspaper, that apart from anger over losing Rs 200 crore, Aktaruzzaman wanted to smuggle gold "undisturbed" in India through the new syndicate.
Akhtaruzzaman has, however, denied his involvement in the murder. He told a Bangladeshi TV channel that he was in Dhaka when the MP was killed in Kolkata. He said that Anar visited his Kolkata flat several times when he went to Kolkata for treatment.
He told the TV channel that he came to the US "as I think I will not get justice in Bangladesh. I came to this country as there is legal protection here."
Local media reports also say several influential people might have played a part in Anar's murder. Anar had started taking control of gold smuggling in Jhenaidah after becoming an MP in 2014.
Reports said that over the last few years, some influential businessmen in Jhenaidah, and a political leader of Jashore, who are also involved in gold smuggling, got upset with Anar for his "attempt to take full control of illegal gold trade."
Anar's daughter, however, told The Quint she was not aware of her father's alleged involvement in gold smuggling since "he did not speak about his work at home with them."
Quoting an investigator, the newspaper reported that Aktaruzzaman used to smuggle gold bars into Bangladesh from Dubai, while Anar made sure the consignment reached the hands of the right people in India through his syndicate. In return, the syndicate was paid a commission.
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