Anar murder: Court instructs forensic tests to be carried out on phones of Babu, 3 others

A court has approved forensic tests on the mobile phones of Awami League leader Kazi Kamal Ahmed aka Babu and three others suspected of involvement in the murder of Jhenaidah MP Anwarul Azim Anar.

Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbubul Haque gave the order on Monday, approving a petition by investigation officials.

The four whose mobiles are to be examined are Babu – the relief and social welfare secretary of the Jhenaidah district Awami League unit, Amanulla Sayeed aka Shimul Bhuiyan, his nephew Tanvir Bhuiyan, and Celesty Rahman.

Sub Inspector Jalal Ahmed, the general registration officer for court police, said that the mobile phones of the four suspects had been seized as part of the evidence in the case. The police Detective Branch petitioned to examine the mobile phones forensically. That petition was approved on Monday.

The DB petition said that after Anar’s murder, the four suspects exchanged information of various kinds over WhatsApp. It is also necessary to know whether the suspects deleted any information, photos, or videos of the abduction and murder on WhatsApp, they said.

The DB police have also raided a Gulshan house rented by Akhtaruzzaman aka Shaheen Mia, a childhood friend of the MP and the alleged mastermind of his killing. They seized two cars during the raid, a white Prado and a microbus.

Anar, a three-time MP from Jhenaidah-4 and president of the Kaliganj Upazila unit of the Awami League went to India for medical treatment on May 11.

Initially, he stayed at the house of his friend and gold trader Gopal Biswas in Kolkata’s Baranagar. However, he went out one day and never came back.

Later, Gopal filed a GD at the local police station, triggering investigations in both countries. On the morning of May 22, Indian media reported that MP Anar had been murdered at an apartment in New Town.

Based on information provided by Indian police, detective police in Bangladesh arrested three suspects. They were also taken into remand for interrogation.

The three are Amanulla Sayeed alias Shimul Bhuiyan alias Shihab aka Fazl Mohammad Bhuiyan, 56, Tanvir Bhuiyan, 30, and Celesty Rahman, 22.

Detective police also arrested another individual from Jashore in connection with the murder.

The detainee, Saiful Alam Molla Member, is an associate of Shimul Bhuiyan, leader of the extremist outfit Purbo Banglar Communist Party, who has been arrested on murder charges.

Police said Anar’s childhood friend Shaheen, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin, was the ‘mastermind’ behind the murder. The killing was carried out by extremist leader Amanulla aka Shimul. Anar went to the apartment rented by Shaheen for a meeting the day after he reached Kolkata. The criminals killed him there.

The CID in West Bengal arrested a butcher called Jihad Howlader, who admitted to chopping up Anar’s body for disposal under Shaheen’s orders. Four more Bangladeshis helped him commit the crime, he said.

After an interrogation of Howlader, law enforcers recovered meat from a septic tank at the apartment building where Anar is believed to have been killed. DNA tests will be conducted on the meat to determine if it is from Anar’s body.

Shaheen’s assistant Siam Hossain was arrested by Nepali police in Kathmandu. He was later handed over to Indian police.

West Bengal media have reported that police learnt a lot about the murder by interrogating Siam.

The CID took Siam on a raid near a canal in Bijoyganj Bazar Thana and recovered bones from a bush in the area.

Citing Kolkata police, Indian media have reported that Siam helped dispose of the body in the canal after it was cut into pieces. Jihad had accompanied him at the time.

DNA tests are to be carried out on the bones as well.