VETERAN Bangladeshi MP Anwarul Azim Anar, who went missing in India, was found murdered in Kolkata and three people have been arrested, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan announced here on Wednesday. “Awami League MP Anwarul Azim Anar, who went missing in India, was murdered at a Kolkata flat. It was a planned murder,” he said. “Police recovered the dismembered body of Md Anwarul Azim Anar from New Town, Kolkata, India, on Wednesday,” ‘Dhaka Tribune’ newspaper said. Bangladeshi criminals are behind the death of the 56-year-old lawmaker from Jhenaidah-4 constituency, Dhaka Police’s Detective Branch (DB) chief Harun Or Rashid said. “It is a brutal murder. We are investigating whether family or financial causes, or enmity with local miscreants led to his death. We are working closely with the Indian police and getting plenty of information,” The Daily Star quoted Rashid as saying. A case has been filed with the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station on Wednesday as the MP had departed the country for India from the Sangsad Bhaban area, Rashid told reporters at the DB office here.

 

Khan said that Bangladesh Police have arrested three persons in connection with the murder of the lawmaker. The three-time MP and president of the Kaliganj upazila unit of the ruling Awami League went to India on May 12 on a personal visit to receive treatment. A general diary report about his disappearance was filed at Baranagar Police Station in North Kolkata on May 18, the report said. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed deep shock and sorrow at the death of Azim, the portal said quoting the United News of Bangladesh news agency. “Jhenaidah is a bordering area known for its high crime rate. Azim was the local lawmaker there. The incident took place after went to India for treatment. According to what we currently know, he was killed there,” the home minister said.

 

“The lawmaker had mysteriously disappeared on May 16 and Gopal Biswas, a friend and a resident of Baranagar in India, filed a missing person’s report with the local police station on May 18 after he could not contact Anwarul Azim,” Dhaka Tribune added. Meanwhile, Anar’s daughter, Mumtarin Ferdous Doreen has demanded justice for her slain father. “I want a fair investigation to identify who killed my father and why. I want to see the end of it. Why did they kill my father? I want to see my father’s killers hanged,” Doreen told reporters here. Speaking about the last conversation she or her family had with Anar, Doreen said, “I had a video call with my father. He said that he was going to India and would come back in a day or two. He then promised to take me to a dentist. That was my last conversation with my father.” ‘The Daily Star’ further, in a separate report, quoted Doreen as saying: “My father admitted me to the LLB programme with many dreams. My results will come out soon. My father told me that he would check my results after returning from India. But (now) he cannot come.”