MP Azim Murder: Mastermind, hired gun are relatives
Suspects Aktaruzzaman and Amanullah in the lawmaker Anwarul Azim Anar murder case are relatives.
According to detectives, Aktaruzzaman hired Amanullah alias Shimul Bhuiyan to have the Jhenaidah-4 MP killed.
They said Amanullah was a leader of the Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) and Mizanur Rahman Tutul was a leader higher up in the party's pecking order.
Tutul, also a cousin of Aktaruzzaman, married Amanullah's sister, they added.
Tutul was killed in a "crossfire" with law enforcers in 2008.
Sources said as they were relatives, Aktaruzzaman and Amanullah knew each other for a long time, and it made Aktaruzzaman hiring Amanullah for Tk 5 crore easier.
Aktaruzzaman's brother Shahiduzzaman, mayor of Kotchandpur Municipality, said Tutul was their cousin. "Due to the relations, Amanullah had communications with us," he said.
Azim went to Kolkata on May 12 and spent the night at his friend's home. He left the home the next day saying he had a doctor's appointment. On May 22, India and Bangladesh police said the MP was murdered at a flat in New Town, Kolkata.
A murder case was filed in Kolkata that day.
A source in an intelligence agency said Azim was Amanullah's rival as Azim was a member of PBCP's Janajuddho faction while Amanullah was of the Lal Pataka faction.
Abdur Rashid alias Dada Tapan, killed in a "gunfight" in 2008, used to lead the Janajuddho faction and was responsible for extortion and other crimes in Kushtia.
Azim filled the shoes after Tapan's death, according to the source.
The source said, "Aktaruzzaman made the deal with Amanullah as per the suggestions of two 'businesspeople' of the region and one of them was supposed to pay the blood money."
The "businesspeople" did not like the fact that Azim, after becoming a lawmaker in 2014, started taking control of gold and narcotics smuggling, and hundi business, the source claimed.
Law enforcers are now trying to bring Aktaruzzaman back to identify the two "businesspeople".
Habibur Rahman, commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, yesterday said diplomatic efforts would be made to bring Aktaruzzaman back from the USA.
Speaking to journalists at the DMP headquarters, he, however, said Bangladesh does not have an extradition treaty with the US.
Asked if the extradition treaty between India and the US could be utilised, he said, "Since the incident happened in India, it can be decided through discussions."
Meanwhile, a lawyer, citing a High Court directive, served a legal notice on the authorities concerned asking them to stop talking about cases under investigation, including the Azim murder case.
Supreme Court lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir sent the notice to the senior secretary at the Public Security Division of the home ministry, the inspector general of police, and the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
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