Kolkata cops search for MP Azim’s chopped body parts

His body was then chopped into pieces in one of the washrooms, packed into bags and transported out, according to CID and Bangladeshi investigators.

Before vacating the apartment, the washroom was cleansed with acid to remove traces of the crime.

Late on Thursday, cops after getting a lead from an app cab driver who ferried the suspects, reached Bhangar’s Krishnamati village under Polerhat police station, where some of the body parts are suspected to have been dumped, reports Times of India.

Aided by information from Bangladeshi security agencies, CID sleuths have managed to stitch together the sequence of events before and after the murder.

They have learnt that the plan to murder Azim, who represented Jhenaidah-4 in Khulna division, was hatched at least a month ago. The prime accused is a businessman named Md Akhtaruzzaman alias Shaheed, who is the younger brother of the mayor of Kotchandpur Municipality in Jhenaidah.

According to media reports in Bangladesh quoting the country’s investigators, Shaheen paid the contract killers Tk 4 crore Bangladeshi to kill the MP.

‘All plotters went back to Bangladesh after finishing job’

The investigators have learnt that all the persons involved came from Bangladesh and returned to the country after finishing their job. Some of them had checked into a hotel in Chinar Park a day before the murder and checked out on May 17 and left the country the same day.

Prime accused Shaheen rented the New Town flat for Rs 1 lakh a month on April 25. On April 30, he moved into the flat with a woman and one Aman, a member of a Left extremist organisation.

Two more associates, Siam and Jihad, stayed at Sudder Street. Shaheen returned to Bangladesh on May 10, leaving Aman in charge.

Two more hitmen from Bangladesh — Faisal Shaji and Mostafiz — reached Kolkata on May 11 and joined Aman.

On May 13, two men picked the MP up from his friend’s house in Sinthee in a rented car and brought him to the New Town flat, where he was smothered to death.

Following the murder, two of the accused reportedly flew back to Dhaka on May 15 while two others returned on May 17 and 18. According to cops, one of them was asked to travel to Bihar by road and return via Kathmandu.

It is suspected that this person kept sending messages to Azim’s family and friend using the victim’s phone. He then disposed of the phone in Bihar.

The CID has detained a local, possibly hailing from a bor der district, who provided logistics support to the killers.

Investigators suspect Shaheen, who returned to Dhaka two days prior to the murder, may have already left Bangladesh and slipped into Nepal. Though cops are still probing the motive, initial investigation suggests it could be the fallout of a business deal going awry.

Media reports in Bangladesh pointed to differences between Azim and Shaheen over the purchase of a guest house in the country.