Kolkata. Initial investigations into the “murder” of Bangladesh MP Anwarul Azim Anar have revealed that one of his friends had paid a contract killer of around Rs 5 crore to kill him, a senior police officer claimed on Thursday.
The official said the Awami League MP’s friend owns a flat in Kolkata and is probably in the US at present.
Police also said that the flat in Kolkata’s New Town area, where the Bangladesh MP was last seen entering, was rented out by its owner to his friend. The owner of this flat is an employee of the Excise Department.
The officer told PTI, “It was a planned murder. An old friend of the MP had paid a huge amount (about Rs five crore) to kill him. “Further investigation is underway.” Bangladesh Home Minister Asadujaman Khan had said on Wednesday that the MP, missing from Kolkata since May 13, has been murdered and three people have been arrested. Meanwhile, West Bengal Police had said that the state CID is investigating the case.
“It was a planned murder. An old friend of the MP had paid a huge amount (about Rs 5 crore) to kill him,” the official told PTI. CID Inspector General Akhilesh Chaturvedi had said on Wednesday that the police had “credible information” that Anar “may have been murdered”, but his body has not been recovered yet.
Asked if the police had found bloodstains at the New Town apartment on the outskirts of Kolkata, where the MP was last seen on May 13, Chaturvedi said, “Our forensic team is examining the suspected crime scene. It is too early to say anything about it.” The state CID has found bloodstains inside the New Town flat and recovered several plastic bags. They believe the plastic bags were used to dump the body parts.
Police claimed that circumstantial evidence shows that the MP was first strangled to death and then his body was mutilated in several parts. The officer said, “Possibly body parts? They were kept inside plastic bags and scattered at different places. “We also suspect that some parts were kept frozen and we have collected samples.” The missing MP had reportedly reached Kolkata on May 12 for treatment. The search for him began six days later when Gopal Biswas, a resident of Baranagar in North Kolkata and an acquaintance of the Bangladeshi politician, lodged a complaint with the local police on May 18.
Anar stayed at Biswas’s house after coming here. In his complaint, Biswas said that Anar left his Baranagar residence on the afternoon of May 13 to meet the doctor, saying that he would return for dinner. Biswas claimed that the Bangladesh MP had not been contacted since May 17. Due to this, he had to lodge a missing person complaint a day later.