"Conspirator may have escaped to US": Bangladesh detective chief to collaborate with Interpol to probe MP Anar murder case

KOLKATA: In a significant development in the investigation of the murder case of Bangladesh Member of Parliament (MP) Anwarul Azim Anar, chief of the Bangladesh Detective Department, Harun-or-Rashid, revealed that the main conspirator, Akhtaruzzaman, may have fled from Kathmandu to the US via Dubai.

Harun-or-Rashid also spoke about the plans to collaborate with Interpol and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to intensify efforts in apprehending the suspect.

Bone-chilling details surrounding the murder of the member of parliament from Bangladesh, who had been missing since May 13 just a day after his arrival in Kolkata came to the fore. According to the findings, the MP was allegedly killed in a Kolkata apartment, where his body was chopped and then proceeded to dispose of the remains by packaging them in multiple plastic bags.

To probe the matter, a team of Bangladeshi detectives has arrived in India.

"The main conspirator Akhtaruzzaman may have escaped from Kathmandu to the US via Dubai...We are trying to trace him through Interpol. We will go to the CID office. We will have a meeting with the officers of CID. We will try to interrogate the arrested accused so that we can get more information," he told reporters upon landing at Kolkata airport on Sunday.

"We just landed here. You all know that in our criminal Act, there is a section called Extra Territorial Offence, which means that if an individual commits a crime outside Bangladesh, we, under this Extra Territorial Offence section, can investigate those crimes," said Harun-or-Rashid.

Addressing the press, he elaborated on the complexities of the case, stating, "You all know one of our popular parliamentarians Anwarul Azim Anar was heinously murdered and his body was cut into pieces. The mastermind of this murder, the beneficiary and those who executed the plans, all are Bangladeshi. The murder plot was planned in Bangladesh. Now our main work is to take forward the investigation."

Harun-or-Rashid outlined the objectives of their visit to India, emphasising the importance of examining the crime scene and analysing CCTV footage. He also highlighted the cooperation between Kolkata Police and Bangladesh Police, emphasising the exchange of crucial information between the two agencies.

"We will go to the CID office. We will have a meeting with the officers of CID. We will try to interrogate the arrested accused so that we can get more information," Harun-or-Rashid added, emphasising their commitment to gathering vital evidence to progress the investigation.

Notably, according to the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Anar was smothered and killed in a flat in Kolkata and his body was chopped and minced to destroy his identity.

The CID team too has launched a search operation to find the body parts of the Bangladeshi MP.

The CID said that they had arrested one of the suspects in the case, a Mumbai-based butcher who confessed during interrogation that he had taken off all the skin from the Bangladeshi MP's body, chopped it up and minced the cut parts in a bid to destroy its identity.

Police said, "The assailants brought a butcher named Jihad (alias Siam) who was living in Mumbai illegally for many years. Two months ago, he was brought to Kolkata by an American citizen of Bangladesh origin, Akhtaruzzaman Shaheen. This Shaheen is the mastermind of this planned heinous murder."

The accused Shaheen confessed that, on the orders of Akhtaruzzaman, he along with four other Bangladeshi nationals had smothered and killed Anwarul Azim Anar in a flat, police said.

"Then they removed all the flesh from the body in the flat and minced it to destroy his identity and then they put everything in a polythene packs. They also chopped the bones into small pieces. They then took those packets out of the flat and dropped them around Kolkata and surrounding areas using different modes of transport," the police said in a statement on Thursday.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate the killing of Bangladeshi MP.

Earlier this week, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan in a news conference in Dhaka said that Anar, a three time Awami League MP was killed in Kolkata.

Speaking to reporters at his residence on Wednesday, the minister said that Bangladesh Police have arrested three persons in this connection, reported Bangladesh Newspaper Daily Star.