Kolkata:

 The West Bengal CID on Thursday evening detained one person for his alleged involvement in the “murder” of Bangladesh MP Anwarul Azim Anar, an officer said.

Police suspect that the MP could have been “lured” into a New Town flat by a woman and then murdered by contract killers.

The detained person, who is a resident of an area in West Bengal close to the international border with Bangladesh, had met one of the prime accused in the murder case, the officer said.

Further investigation is underway to find out why the person had met him and what they discussed, the officer said, without divulging the identity of the detained person.

An initial probe also found out that the MP’s close friend, a US citizen, had paid around Rs 5 crore to those involved in the crime, the senior police officer said.

The Awami League MP’s friend owns a flat in Kolkata, and is probably in the US at present, he said.

Police also said that the flat in Kolkata’s New Town area, where the Bangladesh MP was last seen entering, was rented out to his friend by its owner, an excise department employee.

“Investigation indicated that the Bangladeshi parliamentarian fell into a honey trap laid by a woman who was also close to the victim’s friend. It seems, Anar was lured into the New Town flat by the woman. We suspect he was murdered soon after he went to the flat,” he said.

The CID is examining the CCTV footage which showed Anar entering the flat with a man and a woman, the officer said.

“It was a well-planned murder. A huge amount of money, around Rs 5 crore, was paid by an old friend of the MP to the contract killers to execute the crime. Further investigation is underway,” he said.

“In the CCTV footage, the politician was seen entering the flat with the two persons. The duo was later seen coming out and again re-entering the flat the next day but the MP was not seen again,” the officer told PTI.

Police said the duo was later seen coming out of the flat with a big trolley suitcase.

Anar, who went missing in Kolkata on May 13, was found murdered and three people have been arrested, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said on Wednesday.

The state CID, which is investigating the case, has found blood stains inside the New Town flat and also recovered several plastic bags, which they believe were used to dump the body parts.

Circumstantial evidence indicates that the MP was first strangulated and then his body was cut into several pieces, police claimed.

“We suspect that after killing Anar, the murderers mutilated the body, segregated the flesh from the bones and mixed those with turmeric powder to delay decomposition.

“Then the body parts were probably put inside plastic bags as well as in the trolley bag and scattered at different locations. We also suspect that some parts were kept in a refrigerator and we have collected samples,” the officer said, adding search for the body parts was underway.

Messages were also sent from his mobile phone to a few of his contacts asking them “not to contact him as he was travelling to Delhi”.

“It seems these messages were sent from the MP’s mobile phone to confuse his family members and friends and prevent them from launching a search for him… there is a possibility that these messages were sent after his murder,” he said.

The search for the missing MP, who reportedly arrived in Kolkata on May 12 to undergo medical treatment, began after Gopal Biswas, a resident of Baranagar in north Kolkata and an acquaintance of the Bangladeshi politician, filed a complaint with the local police on May 18.

Anar had stayed at Biswas’s house upon arrival.

In his complaint, Biswas stated that Anar left his Baranagar residence for a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon of May 13, while stating that he would be back home for dinner.

Biswas claimed that the Bangladesh MP went incommunicado since May 17, which prompted him to file a missing complaint a day later.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bangladesh MP Mohammad Anwarul Azim Anar. Photo: parliament.gov.bd

Hours after the Bangladesh government declared that Awami League MP Mohammad Anwarul Azim ‘Anar’, who went missing from Kolkata on May 13, had been “brutally murdered” in the city, the West Bengal Police on Wednesday said that investigations into the case of the politician’s killing had been taken up by the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Stating that the police had “reliable inputs” that Mr. Azim “may have been murdered”, Akhilesh Chaturvedi, Inspector-General of Police, CID, said that the police were yet to recover the victim’s body.

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

“We were in the middle of that investigation when, on May 20, we received an intimation from the Ministry of External Affairs and today an input that makes us suspect that the victim may have been murdered,” Mr. Chaturvedi said.

Unofficial sources said the police were exploring the possible angle of the body of the victim being dismembered and disposed of.

“Anwar was murdered in a planned manner at a residence in Kolkata. Police forces of both India and Bangladesh are working simultaneously to unearth the motive behind the murder and who the culprits are. We are following all international protocols to get to the bottom of this,” Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters in Dhaka on Wednesday morning.

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

The officer confirmed that the apartment was owned by Sanjib Ghosh, an employee of the State excise department, who, in turn, had rented it out to Akhtaruzzaman, a U.S. national, but refused to divulge further details of the ongoing investigation.

“We are doing our best to solve this case,” Mr. Chaturvedi said.

Mr. Azim, police sources said, was accompanied by two men and a woman when he checked into the apartment. While CCTV footage showed that the unidentified men and woman left the residential complex in phases between May 15 and May 17, the MP could not be traced.

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 arrived on Wednesday morning at the designated apartment in New Town and were conducting investigations inside till reports were last received.

The Bangladeshi establishment, meanwhile, confirmed that they had arrested three individuals from the Wari area of Dhaka in connection with the case.

Missing complaint

The search for the missing MP, who reportedly arrived in Kolkata on May 12 to undergo medical treatment, began six days later after Gopal Biswas, a resident of Baranagar in north Kolkata and acquaintance of the Bangladeshi politician at whose house the latter had put up on arrival, filed a missing person complaint with the local police on May 18.

In his complaint, Mr. Biswas stated that Mr. Azim left the Baranagar residence to keep a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon of May 13 while stating that he would be back home for dinner.

Later that day, Mr. Biswas alleged that he received a WhatsApp communication from the MP’s phone stating he would be moving to Delhi on some urgent work and that his host need not call him up. On the morning of May 15, the complainant stated he received another communication from the victim confirming he reached Delhi and was “flanked by VIPs”.

Mr. Biswas alleged that the Bangladeshi MP went incommunicado on May 17 which prompted him to file a missing person police complaint a day later.