Plot afoot weeks before MP’s arrival in Kolkata
The taxi cab in which Awami League MP Anwarul Azim Anar travelled from his friend's house in Borah Nagar to New Town in Kolkata on May 13 was hired by his alleged killers on April 30, weeks before he arrived in Kolkata, said West Bengal CID sources today.
The cab driver, an Indian national, was detained and interrogated yesterday and another round of questioning is expected today. The sources said there were inconsistencies in the driver's statements.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. According to the sources, during the interrogation, the driver revealed that the vehicle was hired on April 30, which shows the planning for the crime had been going on well before the MP arrived in Kolkata on May 12.
On May 13, Azim used the same cab to go to the luxury flat in New Town.
Interestingly, it was the same cab by which two men and a woman exited the luxury flat on May 14 along with a trolley bag which police suspect contained the body parts of the slain lawmaker. They got off in front of a mall in New Town.
Before that, the cab was seen parked in front of Nazrul Tirtha Auditorium in New Town for some time. The assailants are suspected to have returned to Bangladesh on May 14.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman yesterday said the lawmaker was murdered at a flat in Kolkata in a pre-planned way. He said the motive behind the murder was still unknown.
The slain MP's body couldn't be recovered yet.
In Dhaka, police arrested three suspects, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters yesterday.
Kolkata police today said that they have arrested a suspect named Zubair, whose name figured in the FIR lodged by the lawmaker's family.
Azim travelled to Kolkata on May 12 and stayed the night at a family friend's home in Borah Nagar. The following day, he left the house, saying he was going to see a doctor. He did not return and the friend only received a couple of texts from his mobile phone that said there was no need to call him.
Multiple sources in Bangladesh intelligence and law enforcement said Azim and a Bangladeshi-US citizen named Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman, locally known as Shaheen, who Indian police say is a key suspect, were probably running an illegal gold business in Kolkata.
The two recently fell out over business matters, and there was evidence that Akhtaruzzaman hired a man named Amanullah, who was arrested in Dhaka on Tuesday night, to kill Azim, the sources added.
Amanullah then recruited two others named Mustafizur and Faisal for the job. They too were arrested yesterday, said an officer on the condition of anonymity.
Akhtaruzzaman also hired two others named Jihad and Siam, who went to India without any passports, for the same purpose.
Police said Amanullah was once a leader of the Purbo Banglar Communist Party. He was in prison for 20 years in two murder cases.
Requesting anonymity, an officer said, "Akhtaruzzaman rented a flat in Kolkata for Jihad and Siam. Akhtaruzzaman and Amanullah went to Kolkata on April 30."
Amanullah, Mustafizur and Faisal told investigators that they murdered the MP in a rented flat. The body was then cut into pieces, piled into two suitcases and handed to an Indian man for disposal.
Amanullah told the investigators that the suitcases changed hands, and he did not know where they were dumped.
After the murder, Akhtaruzzaman's friend Celesty Rahman, who is on the run, and Amanullah flew back to Dhaka on May 15 while Mustafizur came to Bangladesh on May 17 and Faisal on May 18, said the officer.
Amanullah, who was arrested from Mohammadpur in Dhaka, narrated the entire story during interrogation. He also told officers that he and the other suspects agreed to do the job for Tk 5 crore.
According to intelligence sources, Akhtaruzzaman left Delhi for Kathmandu on Tuesday.
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