The SIM locations of two phones used by Bangladesh Awami League MP Anwarul Azim Anar, allegedly murdered in a Kolkata apartment on either May 13 or 14, were traced to Benapole on the India-Bangladesh border and Muzaffarpur in Bihar, according to information shared by Detective Branch sleuths with Anar’s personal assistant (PA) on May 18.
Anar is suspected to have been ‘murdered’ in an upscale apartment in New Town, most likely a day or two after reaching his Indian associate Gopal Biswas’ house in Baranagar on the northern fringes of Kolkata, on May 12.
Speaking to Northeast News over phone, Anar’s PA, Kaliganj-based Abdur Rouf, said that the Bangladesh DB’’s “preliminary investigations have suggested that one SIM location was in Benapole and the other in Muzaffarpur in Bihar. While this is indeed strange, it indicates a ploy to divert the attention of investigators”. Anar was the Kaliganj MP.
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Benapole and Muzaffarpur are 630 kms apart. Both the SIMs were being tracked by the DB, but what has puzzled the officers is how the two SIM locations could be so far apart.
Does that mean that two persons were used to travel to Benapole and Muzaffarpur separately? Who were these two individuals? Were they linked to the alleged ‘murder’ mastermind Akhtaruzzaman Shaheen or someone else?
Rouf, who might accompany Anar’s daughter Mumtarin Ferdous Doreen to Kolkata soon, said that the alleged ‘murder’ mastermind Akhtaruzzaman Shaheen last “met the MP saheb before the January 7 general election”.
This meeting, Rouf said, was held at the Awami League’s Kaliganj office and lasted about 20 minutes. “However, I was not privy to what transpired in the meeting,” Rouf said, adding that his boss and Saheen would “certainly speak over phone”.
On May 16, at least two days after Anar is suspected to have been ‘murdered’, Rouf received a “missed call” – disconnected after a single ring – at 7:46 pm. When Rouf called back at 7:47 pm, the phone was found switched off.
Some others, for instance Anar’s nephew (in Jessore) and driver (in Kaliganj), received a cryptic and puzzling WhatsApp message at 10:12 pm, purportedly from the MP between May 14 and 15.
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The message, in Bengali, read: “Through a connection in the Kolkata BJP, I am suddenly proceeding to Delhi to meet Amit Shah. Before netri’s (Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina) India visit in June, three new ministers will be appointed. I have been given hope about ministership. I will get busy now and will not be available over phone. I will contact you once I land in Delhi”.
At 10:13 pm, ‘Anar’ sent two messages. The first one said, “I have landed in Delhi, I am with 2 VIPs. Unless it is very urgent, there is no need to call me, I will hopefully meet Amit Shah when he enters Delhi, Inshallah”. The same minute ‘Anar’ shot off another message which said, “There is no need to worry. I will go with very good news, Inshallah”.
Rouf insists that these messages were neither drafted nor sent by Anar who “would simply call me” when he needed to say or convey something. Rouf said on May 16 he called Gopal Biswas of Baranagar to know about Anar’s whereabouts.
“Biswas mentioned about Anar’s Delhi visit. I wasn’t told about any plans to visit Delhi. I even called Doreen to find out whether Anar saheb was scheduled to visit Delhi,” Rouf said, adding that his boss never sent messages using Bengali and English words.
“He preferred leaving voice messages,” Rouf said. Repeated calls over WhatsApp to Doreen did not elicit any response from her.
Rouf and Anar were “continually spoke on phone from morning till 1 pm on May 13” and that “was the last time we spoke”. Rouf said he first spoke with Biswas on May 16 to inquire about Anar’s whereabouts.
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On May 13, Bangladesh Awami League MP Anwarul Azim Anar, before leaving the Baranagar-based home of his associate Gopal Biswas at 1:41 pm, supposedly for medical check-up, said that he would return in the evening. He boarded a car that was parked in front of Calcutta Public School at Bidhan Park. Baranagar is on the northern outskirts of Kolkata.
In his missing person’s report to the local police filed on May 18, Biswas said that one Subhajit Manna, presumably a neighbour, saw him get into the waiting car. Anar crossed the India-Bangladesh border at Darshana-Gede on May 12 before reaching Biswas’ house in Barangar around 7 pm that evening.
Anar did not return on May 13 evening but informed Biwas over a WhatsApp message that he “was leaving for some special work to Delhi” and that he would call Biswas once he reached the Indian capital. But the message added that “you do not have to call me”.
Two days later (on May 15), Biswas received another WhatsApp message from Anar’s phone at 11:21 am that “I have just reached Delhi and some VIPs were in front of me” and “so there was no need to call me”. Biswas’s missing person’s report said that “this same message was sent to his family and PA (personal assistant)”.
The next day (May 16), Biswas continued, Anar called his PA, Abdur Rouf, but the latter could not receive the call. Later, Rouf could not establish any contact over phone with Anar. The next day, Anar’s daughter called Biswas to say that she had not been able to contact her father in anyway.
Following this, Biswas called up several people who he knew were known to Anar. Many of these people also tried calling Anar but could not contact him at all.
It is now almost certain that Anar, who was taken to the Sanjeeva Gardens apartment by a man identified as Faisal alias Tanveer on May 13, came into the control of Shimul Bhuiyan, supposedly once a former Communist Party activist, from the western part of Bangladesh.
Also present in the apartment were Celeste Rahman and Jihad Howladar, the so-called butcher who was supposedly brought over from Mumbai by the ‘murder’ mastermind Akhtaruzzaman Shaheen who has roots in Jhenaidah in Bangladesh.
