KOLKATA: Almost a fortnight since the alleged murder of Bangladeshi MP Anwarul Azim Anar in a flat in New Town, a team of policemen from Dhaka, headed by their detective chief, reached Kolkata and said they suspected mastermind
Akhtaruzzaman
Shaheen - a childhood friend of Anar - had fled to the US.
Bangladesh is seeking Interpol's help to catch him.
The cops said a fallout between the MP and Akhtaruzzaman over the proceeds from a gold smuggling racket may have been the motive for the former's murder in cold blood.
The
Bangladeshi detective chief
went to Bagjola canal in Polerhat, off Bhangar, where cops were using fishing nets and underwater drones to trace the chopped-up body parts without success. "The mastermind left the city on May 10," said Mohammad Harun-or-Rashid, chief, Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch (DB), adding, "He fled to Delhi, from where he fled to Kathmandu and Dubai. We suspect he is now hiding in the US. We, along with the Kolkata CID, are seeking help from Interpol to nab him."
TOI had reported on Friday that senior cops from Bengal CID had hinted that India's
extradition treaty
with the US would help investigators nab the accused in the Bangladesh MP murder case.
At
New Town PS
, Mohammad Harun-or-Rashid, Bangladeshi detective chief, and his team spoke with several officers from the Bidhannagar Commissionerate and
CID officials
on Sunday. They then went to the bungalow at Sanjeeva Gardens near Aquatica Water Park, which Akhtaruzzaman had rented, allegedly to commit the murder, on May 13.
The MP had come to Kolkata on May 11 for medical treatment. Police suspect he was lured by a Bangladeshi woman, Celesty Rahman, to the luxury apartment in New Town on May 13 and was killed within 15 minutes of his arrival.
Police had earlier said that the MP's body was dismembered by
Jihad Howlader
, a Bangladeshi butcher, who used to stay in Mumbai. CID arrested him on Thursday. Jihad had told the investigators that the body was flayed and cut into small pieces. Turmeric was applied on the chopped-up body parts, packed, and thrown into the Bagjola canal. But in spite of four days of search, nothing has yet sur faced.
(Inputs from Mayukh Sengupta)
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