An investigation into the murder of Awami League lawmaker Anwarul Azim Anar, who went missing from Kolkata on 13 May, was taken up by the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID), a senior police official said on Wednesday.

IG CID Akhilesh Chaturvedi told reporters in Kolkata that the West Bengal police had “reliable inputs” that Azim “may have been murdered” but the police were yet to recover the victim’s body.

“We had no prior intimation of the Bangladeshi MP’s arrival in the city. We came to know about him after his acquaintance in Kolkata, Gopal Biswas, filed a missing diary on 18 May. A Special Investigation Team was formed by the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate to trace the missing politician,” Chaturvedi said.

He said the West Bengal police were in the midst of an investigation “when, on 20 May, we received an intimation from the Ministry of External Affairs and today (Wednesday) an input that makes us suspect that the victim may have been murdered.”

The West Bengal police sources said they were exploring the possible angle of the body of the victim being dismembered and disposed of.

Asked whether the police found blood stains in the flat in the luxury condominium in New Town in Kolkata’s outskirts where the AL MP’s whereabouts were traced last on 13 May, Chaturvedi said “our forensic team is examining the suspected crime scene. It is too early to speak about that.”

The IG confirmed that the apartment was owned by Sanjib Ghosh, an employee of West Bengal excise department, who, in turn, had rented it out to one Akhtaruzzaman, a US national, but refused to divulge further details of the ongoing investigation.

“We are doing our best to solve this case,” Chaturvedi said.
Azim, police sources said, was accompanied by two men and a woman when he checked into the apartment. While CCTV footage showed the unidentified men and the woman left the residential complex in phases between 15 May and 17 May, the MP did not.

At least two of the three people accompanying the victim later returned to Bangladesh, the police said.

A team of officials from the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate reached the housing society on Wednesday morning and conducted the investigations inside till reports were last received.

BDST: 0953 HRS, MAY 23, 2024
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