Bangladesh MP Anwarul Azim Anar who went missing in India found murdered in Kolkata
Dhaka, May 22: Veteran Bangladeshi MP Anwarul Azim Anar, who went missing in India, was found murdered in Kolkata and three people have been arrested, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan announced here on Wednesday.
“Awami League MP Anwarul Azim Anar, who went missing in India, was murdered at a Kolkata flat. It was a planned murder,” he said.
“Police recovered the dismembered body of Md Anwarul Azim Anar from New Town, Kolkata, India, on Wednesday,” Dhaka Tribune newspaper said.
Bangladeshi criminals are behind the death of the 56-year-old lawmaker from Jhenaidah-4 constituency, Dhaka Police’s Detective Branch (DB) chief Harun Or Rashid said.
“It is a brutal murder. We are investigating whether family or financial causes, or enmity with local miscreants led to his death. We are working closely with the Indian police and getting plenty of information,” The Daily Star quoted Rashid as saying.
A case has been filed with the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station on Wednesday as the MP had departed the country for India from the Sangsad Bhaban area, Rashid told reporters at the DB office here.
Khan said that Bangladesh Police have arrested three persons in connection with the murder of the lawmaker.
The three-time MP and president of the Kaliganj upazila unit of the ruling Awami League went to India on May 12 on a personal visit to receive treatment. A general diary report about his disappearance was filed at Baranagar Police Station in North Kolkata on May 18, the report said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed deep shock and sorrow at the death of Azim, the portal said quoting the United News of Bangladesh news agency.
“Jhenaidah is a bordering area known for its high crime rate. Azim was the local lawmaker there. The incident took place after went to India for treatment. According to what we currently know, he was killed there,” the home minister said.
“The lawmaker had mysteriously disappeared on May 16 and Gopal Biswas, a friend and a resident of Baranagar in India, filed a missing person's report with the local police station on May 18 after he could not contact Anwarul Azim,” Dhaka Tribune added.
Meanwhile, Anar’s daughter, Mumtarin Ferdous Doreen has demanded justice for her slain father. “I want a fair investigation to identify who killed my father and why. I want to see the end of it. Why did they kill my father? I want to see my father's killers hanged,” Doreen told reporters here.
Speaking about the last conversation she or her family had with Anar, Doreen said, “I had a video call with my father. He said that he was going to India and would come back in a day or two. He then promised to take me to a dentist. That was my last conversation with my father.”
The Daily Star further, in a separate report, quoted Doreen as saying: “My father admitted me to the LLB programme with many dreams. My results will come out soon. My father told me that he would check my results after returning from India. But (now) he cannot come.”
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
