BANGLADESHI MP ANWARUL AZIM FOUND DEAD IN KOLKATA; DHAKA CALLS IT 'PLANNED MURDER'

NEW DELHI: Bangladeshi MP Anwarul Azim, who had come to India on May 12 for medical treatment, was found dead in Kolkata on Wednesday. His body was recovered under mysterious circumstances from an apartment in a posh residential complex at New Town on the northern outskirts of Kolkata in the morning. Azim, who was a member of ruling Awami League party, was missing for the last eight days.

Bangladesh home minister Asaduzzaman Khan called the MP's killing a "planned murder" and said Bangladesh Police have arrested three people (all Bangladeshis) in this connection, news agency ANI reported quoting Bangladesh Newspaper Daily Star.

Azim was last seen on the afternoon of May 13 when he went with friends to a home in Bidhannagar near Kolkata for a medical check-up. According to a family friend in Kolkata's Bidhannagar, the MP mentioned he would be travelling to Delhi, but there was no direct contact with him since May 13. Only mobile messages were exchanged with his family in Dhaka and his friend in Bidhannagar, indicating his intended journey to Delhi.

A formal missing person complaint was lodged at the Baranagar police station in Bidhannagar by Anwarul Azim's family friend, Gopal Viswas. He was approached by the MP's daughter after she failed to contact her father.

"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," according to the complaint dated May 18, 2024.

According to news agency IANS, Anwarul Azim had taken that apartment on rent for quite some time. Police sources said that the other residents of the complex have told the investigating officers that some people used to frequent that flat to meet the MP, the news agency reported.