Jhenaidah MP Anwarul Azim's body recovered in Kolkata

The body of Md Anwarul Azim (Anar), lawmaker for Jhenaidah-4 and president of Kaliganj upazila Awami League, has been found in New Town, Kolkata, India, after he went to the country for treatment earlier this month.

Police recovered his dismembered body from a house in New Town on Wednesday. 

The Kolkata Police says it was a premeditated murder.

Two people have been detained in this connection.

The MP's body had been cut into pieces, media reports quoted a deputy commissioner of the Kolkata Police as saying, who added that some of the body parts had been found in a flat of Sanjeeva Garden in Kolkata's New Town.  

As soon as the news of his death broke, thousands of activists of his party gathered in front of his home in his constituency, demanding a thorough investigation into Anar's death.

According to sources, the MP crossed the Darshana-Gede border into India for treatment on May 12. Anar went to his Indian friend Gopal Biswas’s home in North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal. 

The following day, he went out at noon to see a doctor and was supposed to return in the evening.  However, he apparently went to Delhi instead and sent a WhatsApp message to Biswas, saying he would call if necessary. 

Since then, he could not be reached by phone. 

Biswas became concerned, and Anar’s family in Bangladesh also grew anxious.

Biswas was informed by the MP's daughter of her inability to contact her father. Concerned by the lack of communication and his sudden alleged disappearance, he then lodged a missing person report with Baranagar police station in Kolkata, ANI reports.

"On the morning of May 16, he (Anwarul Azim) called his assistant, but the call did not connect. Later, when his PA called him back, he did not answer the call," according to the complaint dated May 18.

"His daughter called me (Biswas), and said she could not communicate with her father. Then I contacted all his (Anarul Azim's) acquaintances over the phone, but it was not possible to reach him," it added.

On Sunday, Anar’s brother Enamul Haque Iman also lodged a missing person report with Kaliganj police station.

Anar's personal assistant, Abdur Rauf, had previously told Dhaka Tribune that the MP had been in contact with his family and party members for the first two days of his trip. “However, since Tuesday (May 14), all communication with him has been lost. He is also unreachable on WhatsApp.”

Md Anwarul Azim Anar was elected MP for Jhenaidah-4 in 2014, 2018, and 2024.