Mp Azim’s Murder: Aktaruzzaman coordinated murder from Gulshan flat

While killing Jhenaidah-4 MP Anwarul Azim Anar at a Kolkata flat, the assailants were on the phone with mastermind Aktaruzzaman, known in his hometown Jhenaidah as Shaheen Mia, several investigators suspect.

He was at his rented flat in Gulshan, Dhaka, at the time and made video calls with the assailants, they added.

Officers earlier said Azim and Aktaruzzaman used to run a gold smuggling racket until they fell out over money last year and Azim kept a stash worth over Tk 100 crore to himself.

After making the arrangement in Kolkata, Aktaruzzaman returned to Bangladesh on May 10 and went directly to his Gulshan flat, which he rented several years ago.

Before coming to Bangladesh, Aktaruzzaman put Amanullah in charge and then gave directions from time to time even, sources in a Bangladesh law enforcement agency said.

Aktaruzzaman's friend Celesty Rahman, now on an eight-day remand, came back from Kolkata on May 15 and went directly to the Gulshan flat.

Aktaruzzaman also had another flat in Baridhara. Law enforcers sealed off one of his flats, and a search would be conducted there soon, said investigators.

Investigators said Celesty was not present at the Kolkata flat when the lawmaker was killed on May 13.

In January, the assailants planned to abduct the lawmaker using chloroform.

But the plan was foiled when Azim came to meet Aktaruzzaman with some companions, said an officer involved with the investigation.

They also planned to shoot him dead in Jhenaidah before the January 7 election, but that plan also didn't work due to the presence of security personnel.

JS TO WAIT

Parliament will wait a little more before declaring slain lawmaker Anwarul Azim Anar's Jhenaidah-4 seat as vacant.

"The incident is exceptional. Nothing like this happened in the past. That's why we want to wait," Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury told reporters yesterday.

After a lawmaker dies or resigns, the parliament secretariat issues a gazette notification stating that a seat has fallen vacant.

The Election Commission then holds a by-election within 90 days. If Azim's death is officially confirmed, the seat will be declared vacant.

Law enforcers in India and Bangladesh believe that Azim was killed in Kolkata on May 13, but they have not made a formal announcement of his death because his remains have not been found yet.

On May 22, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Speaker sent condolence messages for Azim's demise.

Meanwhile, a three-member Dhaka Metropolitan Police team, headed by Additional Commissioner (DB) Harun Or Rashid, reached Kolkata  yesterday.  

"We have spoken to our higher authorities in the government and discussed how we can seek Interpol's assistance to get hold of Aktaruzzaman," he told reporters at Kolkata airport.

The West Bengal CID has charged Jihad Hawladar, an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh, with murder, conspiracy, destruction of evidence, and attempt to mislead the probe with false evidence.

A prosecutor told a court that Jihad, who worked at a meat shop in Mumbai, reached Kolkata in March with the suspected intent to commit the murder. He allegedly scouted the location and planned the execution meticulously.

Meanwhile, West Bengal CID continued its efforts to find Azim's remains. It earlier deployed divers and fishermen in the Bagjola canal in Bhangar and ponds in the area.

Azim went to Kolkata on May 12 and stayed the night at his friend Gopal Biswas's house. He left the next day, saying he had a doctor's appointment. Gopal later received a couple of texts from Azim's mobile phone that said there was no need to call him. On May 22, India and Bangladesh police said the MP was murdered at a flat in New Town, Kolkata.