The home page of The Zabeer Jashore, located “at the heart” of Jessore in Bangladesh, describes this “luxurious and elegant hotel” as a “place that sparks creativity, fuels the imagination and welcomes reflection and relaxation”.
This gleaming four-star hotel was the venue of a discreet meeting attended by seven persons, nearly three months before Anwarul Azim Anar, Bangladesh Awami League MP from Jhenaidah district’s Kaliganj constituency, was allegedly ‘murdered’ in a Kolkata apartment, supposedly on May 13.
Among those who took part in this secretive meeting included Babu, Anar’s long-time ‘friend’ and ‘business associate’ Akhtaruzzaman Shaheen, two Juba League members and two former Awami League MPs.
This meeting discussed and then ended on a note that the participants agreed on: that Anar must go. A few of the same participants had also met at Akhtaruzzaman’s Gulshan home in Dhaka, in April this year.
A few days ago, the Bangladesh Detective Branch arrested Mintu and Babu in quick succession, giving a political twist to this sensational case which opened with differences between Akhtaruzzaman Shaheen and Anar over ‘business’, a euphemism for the deeply entrenched and massive cross-border gold smuggling in which politicians from both India and Bangladesh are allegedly involved.
Before leaving for Dhaka on June 10, Mintu told a close party associate and confidante that he “apprehended” moves to “target” him while “denying that he knew any of the killers”.
Speaking to Northeast News, Jhenaidah Awami League sources admitted that district party Joint Secretary Kazi Kamal Ahmed Babu was close to Mintu.
“But Mintu did express fears that he might be targeted,” the sources said, adding that “differences of opinion between Anar and Mintu did surface in November 2022 when Jhenaidah district Awami League committees, especially in Kaliganj, were staffed with Anar’s men”.
The ‘murder’ case, which is being pursued by both the West Bengal CID in and the Bangladesh Detective Branch, has been woven around gory and grisly details involving Anar’s abduction, followed by chopping his body into small parts before deboning the flesh and disposing these in a southeastern Kolkata storm water drain.
The alleged ‘murder’ was planned once the so-called parliamentary elections ended on January 7. Akhatruzzaman Shaheen, a New York-based Bangladeshi American, who originally belongs to Kotchandpur in Jhenaidah, was said to have made all the preparations leading up to Anar’s killing.
Akhtaruzzaman Shaheen is said to have met Shimul Bhuiyan on a luxury launch in December 2023. Subsequently, he held several meetings in Dhaka.
He rented the apartment at Sanjeeva Gardens society in Kolkata’s New Town area on the plea that the rent lease for a previous house, also in New Town, had expired.
An advance team of killers, including Shimul Bhuiyan, alias Syed Amanullah, Tanveer Bhuiyan alias Faisal and a 22-year-old woman Celeste Rahman moved into the Sanjeeva Gardens apartment on April 30 before a Kolkata-based Bangladeshi fugitive from the law, Jihad Howladar, and Akhtaruzzaman Shaheen’s ‘employee’ Mohammad Siyam Hossain also joined in on different dates in May.
The West Bengal CID and the Detective Branch claim that Anar, who reached his Kolkata-based ‘associate’ and jeweller Gopal Biswas’ Baranagar house on May 12, left in a car with Tanveer Bhuiyan.
CCTV footage released by the police shows Anar entering the apartment on May 13 when he was allegedly ‘murdered’.
While the central motive behind Anar’s alleged ‘murder’ is in all likelihood related to the multi-crore and complex gold smuggling activities along the India-Bangladesh border, what makes it vexed is the elaborate and lengthy planning and the conspiracy involving some central-level Awami League leaders.
On the other hand, what has startled Indian security officials is the Bangladesh Detective Branch’s “much too hurried” moves to establish that “Anar’s body was dismembered into too many pieces to be ever found whole”.
Cutting up bones, especially of the legs and the hip, would have needed a saw.
Bangladeshi sources familiar with the case said that some of the men who met at The Zabeer Jashore had “parked” their money – proceeds of some shadowy ‘business’ – with Anar, which the MP was refusing to return.
Northeast News has confirmed from multiple sources in Jessore that The Zabeer Jashore facilitates gambling, alcohol serving and operates a functioning casino.
And yet Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal testified that he was “highly impressed” when he “stayed at The Zabeer Jashore”.
In his testimony, Khan wrote: “The hotel had a beautiful property with luxurious amenities. The room was elegantly designed and the bed was incredibly comfortable”.
What is more intriguing is the West Bengal CID’s apparent disinclination to interrogate Mintu and Babu who appear to be central characters in the ‘murder’ conspiracy.
Instead of leaving for Bangladesh post-haste to question the two Jhenaidah Awami League leaders, they appear to be content with not taking any proactive steps at all.
Likewise, the Detective Branch also appears to be disinclined to examine and interrogate Howladar and Hossain more than what they may have already done briefly.
At the same time, there is no apparent effort or keenness on the part of the Detective Branch to pursue critical leads that point to the meeting at The Zabeer Jashore in which a former Awami League MP from Jessore has majority stake.
This former MP also has stakes in The Zabeer Dhaka hotel. The MP’s daughter claims on her Instagram page that she is the “director and owner” of The Zabeer Jashore and The Zabeer Dhaka.
Sources close to Anar said they are “intrigued by the Detective Branch’s disinclination to interrogate Mintu beyond the four days of the court-ordained eight days of police custody” that was granted when the Jhenaidah Awami League leader was produced in court.
These sources questioned the Detective Branch’s disinclination to continue with the eight-day police remand that was granted by the court.
“What led the police to curtail Mintu’s police custody when answers to four vital questions are not clear at all? The first is Anar’s photo (naked and tied to a chair) in Mintu’s WhatsApp messages.
he second is what transpired at the May 6 meeting between Akhtaruzzaman Shaheen and Mintu in Dhaka?
Thirdly, who was to make the payment of Taka 1.80 crore to Shimul Bhuiyan? Was Mintu supposed to make the payment or someone else?”
