Missing Bangladesh MP Anwarul Azim Anar reported killed in Kolkata

Jhenaidah-4 MP Anwarul Azim Anar, who had gone missing several days ago, has reportedly been killed in an apartment in the New Town area of Kolkata.

Anar had travelled to the West Bengal capital of India for medical treatment. He had been staying with a friend named Gopal Biswas. Biswas had filed a general diary at the police station after Anar went missing.

Biswas told bdnews24.com the investigating officer for the GD, Shuvendu Goswami, called him on Wednesday morning to inform him that they had found Anar’s body. The investigating officer said he would also speak to Biswas in person.

Biswas was unable to provide details while local media outlets in Kolkata said that the body was found in a multi-storey apartment block called Sanjiva Garden in the city’s New Town area.

But police and government ministers in Bangladesh later confirmed that the body was not found in the flat.  

Kolkata daily Sangbad Protidin reported that Anar ‘had been killed’. New Town police, the Bidhan Nagar Detective Branch, and HDF officials have launched an investigation. They are looking at the CCTV footage from the residence.

Asked about the issue, Dhaka Police Commissioner Habibur Rahman said, “We also heard about it from the newspapers. The Bidhan Nagar police commissioner told the media that his body was found in a rented apartment. We have not spoken to them directly, but we are trying to make contact.”

Abdur Rouf, the personal secretary to the Awami League MP, said on Sunday that Anar went to India on May 11. “He has been unreachable by phone since May 16 despite repeated attempts.”

The family had sent several people to India to locate him, he said.

Anar was scheduled to attend a meeting on Saturday to discuss the Jhenaidah-1 by-election but missed it, said Md Saidul Karim Mintu, general secretary of Jhenaidah District Awami League.

“We tried reaching him on his phone without success. Later, we discovered that he had gone to India but became unreachable. We’ve informed the party high-ups about the matter,” he said.

Anar, president of Kaliganj Upazila Awami League, was elected MP for the third consecutive term in the Jan 7 vote with the Awami League’s ticket.