A Bangladeshi lawmaker was “murdered” in Kolkata a week after he went missing after visiting the east Indian megacity, the country’s home minister claimed on Wednesday (May 22). A joint investigation has been launched into the death of the Bangladesh Member of Parliament (MP) Anwarul Azim.
The lawmaker had reached India on May 12 and went for a medical checkup the following day with a family friend in Kolkata’s Bidhannagar. But nobody could trace him after May 13, following which the friend had lodged a missing complaint with the West Bengal Police.
His body was recovered from an apartment in a posh residential complex at New Town on the northern outskirts of Kolkata under mysterious circumstances.
Azim, a member of Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League party, was missing since the last eight days.
In Dhaka, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan termed the incident a “planned murder.”
“So far, we have come to know that all the killers involved are Bangladeshis. It was a planned murder,” the Bangladesh Home Minister was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.
Watch: Bangladesh’s ruling party lawmaker missing in India
Local media reported that Bangladeshi police have arrested at least three persons in this connection. As per reports, Indian police are also cooperating with Bangladeshi authorities over the matter, and an investigation has been launched.
“We will soon inform you about the motive (of the murderers),” Minister Khan told the media.
MP tried calling his assistant
In a police complaint filed by MP’s family friend Gopal Viswas at Baranagar police station in Bidhannagar, it was claimed that Anwarul Azim had tried calling his assistant on the morning of May 16.
“On the morning of May 16, he (Anwarul Azim) called his assistant, but could not connect. Later, when his PA called him back, he did not answer,” the complaint read.
The MP’s daughter also tried calling her father but to no avail. “Still, there has been no physical presence or direct contact with him since May 13,” Viswas wrote in the complaint.
“His daughter called me (Viswas), and said, I can’t communicate with my father. Then I contacted all his (Anarul Azim’s) acquaintances on the phone, but it was not possible to contact him,” it added.
“I was then requested to come to Baranagar police station on May 18 to register the complaint in the missing diary,” a copy of the complaint said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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