Staff Correspondent

A court in Dhaka on Friday placed three people on eight-day remand each in connection with the murder of Jhenaidah-4 MP Anwarul Azim (Anar) in Kolkata, India.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Dilruba Afroz passed the order after the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) produced the suspects – Aman Ullah alias Shimul Bhuiyan, a senior leader of the Purba Banglar Communist Party, Shelesti Rahman, and Faysal Ali alias Shaji – before the court in the afternoon.

Earlier, the DB police in a petition sought 10 days for each of the suspects for interrogation under their custody regarding the murder.

On 12 May, MP Anwarul Azim went to Kolkata and boarded the house of his friend Gopal Biswas. The following day, he left the house to see a doctor.

As he remained missing since then, Gopal filed a general diary (GD) with Baranagar police station in Kolkata on 18 May.

On 22 May, it was known that the lawmaker was killed in a flat of “Sanjeeva Gardens” located in the New Town area of Kolkata. However, his body could not be found there.

While talking to reporters at his Minto Road office in the capital on Thursday, DMP Additional Commissioner (Detective Branch) Harun Or Rashid described the plot of the murder and its execution as gleaned from the three arrestees.

According to the DB chief, the murder of the MP was planned two months ago. Akhteruzzaman Shahin, who was a childhood friend of Anwarul Azim, was the mastermind. Akhteruzzaman first planned to kill him in Bangladesh, but later changed the decision fearing that there might be danger.

To execute the plan, he hired a flat at New Town in Kolkata on 25 April. On 30 April, Aman Ullah, Shelesti Rahman, and another person went to Kolkata and boarded the flat.

Two others – Jakir alias Jihad and Siam – also went to the flat.

On 10 May, Akhteruzzaman returned home from Kolkata after making all arrangements for the killing mission.

The killers knew that MP Azim would come to Kolkata on 12 May. After going to Kolkata on the day, the MP boarded the house of his friend Gopal Biswas.

The following day, he left the house to see a doctor. Later, one Faisal received the MP in a white car which was being driven by one Raza. Later, Aman got into the car.

Anwarul Azim, Aman, and Faisal went to the flat at 2:51pm on 13 May. And one Mostafiz also went there. Jihad and Siam were in the flat from earlier. They killed the MP within 30 minutes.

After the murder, one of the killers went outside with the mobile phone of Anwarul Azim and called different persons. Later, he returned to the flat.

Then, the killers peeled the flesh from the bones of the deceased and cut them into pieces.

A portion of the pieces of flesh and bones were stuffed into a grey suitcase. Aman and Siam went out of the flat with the suitcase where a car was waiting near a public toilet.

Siam got into the car with the suitcase while Aman returned to the flat.

The following day, the other portions of the body were stuffed into two polythene bags. Turmeric powder was applied to the flesh and bones so that there was no odour. Then two of the killers went outside with those.

On 15 May, Aman and the woman returned to Bangladesh. Mostafiz came back on 16 May while some others returned home later.

Mastermind Akhteruzzaman went to Delhi in India and from there he went to Kathmandu in Nepal.

The DB chief said they suspect that the mastermind, who is an expatriate living in the United States, went into hiding.

He said they arrested Aman and two others and gathered the information from them.

Harun said a team of the Bangladesh police might go to Kolkata for investigation.

A Kolkata police team also came to Bangladesh on Thursday. It visited the DB office around 6:45pm. The team held a meeting with the DB officers, said sources.

About the body recovery, Harun said they would try their best to find at least some pieces of the body.