Failed attempt to kill MP Anwarul in January

Jhenaidah-4 lawmaker Anwarul Azim was initially plotted to be killed in Kolkata in a car in January this year. The killers had a plan to dump the body in the sewerage canal of Kolkata after the killing on 18 January.

However, the plan was thwarted as Anwarul went to Kolkata on 19 January instead of 18 January. Therefore, Akhtaruzzaman called him in Kolkata ostensibly on business reasons, to execute the plan later in May.

Anwarul Azim was killed in Kolkata on 13 May. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) got an overall idea about the entire incident of the killing, from planning to execution, analysing the information obtained from the Kolkata Police and provided by the arrestees in the two countries during questioning, travel records and digital records (evidence).

The investigators conveyed a summary of the entire incident to the top echelons of the police, which says Akhtaruzzaman alias Shahin is a friend of Anwarul. They both are known to have gold businesses in Kolkata. However, the two friends had disputes over the monetary transactions in their business.

Sources relevant to the investigation say Akhtaruzzaman and Shimul Bhuiyan initially plotted to kill Anwarul before the parliamentary election in his electoral area (Kaliganj of Jhenaidah). For this, Akhtaruzzaman hired a man named Badal to keep an eye on Anwarul. However, they later discarded the plan considering the fact that it would be hard to evade after killing a ruling party lawmaker inside the country.

Later the killers came up with the plan to kill the Awami League MP in Kolkata of India. Akhtaruzzaman thought if Anwarul was killed in Kolkata, then everyone would assume his business partners in Kolkata had killed him. So they made a plan to execute the killer inside a car in Kolkata on 18 January. The plan was that Akhtaruzzaman would be driving the car with Anwarul sitting beside him and Shimul Bhuiyan, Siam Hossain and Zihad Hawladar sitting in the rear seats. And then they would dump the body in the sewerage canal of Kolkata.

As per the plan, Akhtaruzzaman and Shimul Bhuiyan went to Kolkata on 18 January. However, MP Anwarul couldn’t make it to Kolkata that day. He arrived a day later. So the plan was foiled and Shimul Bhuiyan returned to the country on 19 January and Akhtaruzzaman on 30 January. Anwarul Azim returned on 24 January.

The investigations by the DMP and Kolkata Police further unravels that on 12 May Anwarul went to Kolkata and became a guest of his old friend Gopal Biswas in Mandalpara Lane of the city. The next day, he went out saying he had a business meeting. Some 30 minutes after that, Anwarul phoned Gopal and asked for Rs 420,000 in cash from him. Although Gopal said that it was risky to carry such an amount in cash amid the Lok Sabha polls, Anwarul insisted. Later, Gopal sent him the money through his manager. Anwarul received the money from in front of the Bidhanpur School and College and left on a white car. However, the police are yet to find that Rs 420,000.

This correspondent tried to reach Gopal Biswas over the phone several times on Wednesday and Thursday. However, he didn’t respond. Later, a person called this correspondent using a Bangladeshi SIM card and asked about the reasons for calling Gopal. However, he hung up the phone as soon as this correspondent introduced himself as a newsperson. He didn’t receive the calls later.

Although a month passed since the killing of Awami League lawmaker Anwarul Azim, the body is yet to be recovered. The Kolkata police recovered some bones from a canal based on information given by Siam Hossain, who was arrested on the allegation of being involved in hiding the body. Before that, some body parts were recovered from the septic tank of the flat used for Anwarul’s murder.

However, whether these are the body parts of Anwarul can only be confirmed after DNA tests. So far, five persons have been arrested, two from Kolkata and three from Dhaka, in this case. Meanwhile, the police arrested two leaders of Jhenaidah district Awami League – Kazi Kamal Ahmed and Saidul Karim, after a Dhaka court recorded the deposition of Shimul Bhuiyan.

Kazi Kamal gave his confessional statement in a Dhaka court Friday. And Jhenaidah district Awami League leader Saidul Karim is still on remand. Akhtaruzzaman, the mastermind of the case, is absconding at the moment.

Shimul Bhuiyan, the actual killer, recorded his deposition with the court on 5 May. He said the Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML), an extremist terrorist outfit, labelled Anwarul as a ‘class enemy’ and decided to assassinate him back in 1998. The decision was driven by Anwarul’s involvement in smuggling and forceful land grabbing. Shimul said he executed that decision after 26 years. He claimed he took the help of Akhtaruzzaman as he would not have been able to tackle everything after killing a ruling party MP alone.

The officials involved in the investigations feel that Shimul Bhuiyan, who is accused in 25 cases including murder, brought up the ‘class enemy’ theory to deceive them by creating confusion.

Speaking to Prothom Alo regarding this, DMP commissioner Habibur Rahman said, “The case depositions recorded by the court are parts of the investigation. The police will verify the information whether there are any proofs supporting his statement. Besides, several other issues will be clear after questioning the other arrestees in the case. The final investigation report will be prepared after that.”

*This report appeared on the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu