In a new twist to the ongoing probe into the brutal murder of Bangladesh MP Anwarul Azim Anar, the West Bengal CID on Saturday said that gold smuggling could be a possible reason behind the killing.
An alleged tussle over gold smuggling between Anar and his friend -- a US citizen and his business partner -- could be the cause of the crime, officials said.
Meanwhile, the probe agency continued to look for the Bangladeshi lawmaker's body parts in a canal at Bhangar in South 4 Parganas district, where the arrested butcher led them.
CID sleuths confirmed the murder of the Awami League MP from Jhenaidah-4 segment in Bangladesh, on Wednesday after the victim went missing from Kolkata on May 13.
BANGLADESH MP MURDER ROW: LATEST UPDATES
GOLD SMUGGLING REASON BEHIND MURDER?
The West Bengal CID on Saturday claimed that an angle of gold smuggling could be the reason behind the gruesome murder of the Bangladeshi MP.
"The murder could be the result of a rift between the politician and his US friend and partner... We are probing into this aspect as well," the officer of the state CID said.
FINDING BODY PARTS 'NOT AN EASY TASK'
A CID officer said that it would not be an easy task to find the Bangladeshi lawmaker's body parts, considering that it was chopped into nearly 80 pieces and scattered at several places almost 12 days ago.
The probe agency, however, continued it search in a canal at South 24 Parganas' Bhangar, where the arrested butcher led had led them.
Earlier, they also searched the Krishnamati village in Bhangar. The CID has employed deep-water divers at ponds in the region to find Anar's body parts, adding that drones were also being used for the same.
POLICE ARREST BANGLADESHI BUTCHER
The West Bengal CID on Friday had arrested a Bangladeshi, working as a butcher in Mumbai, from North 24 Parganas district for his alleged involvement in the grisly murder of Bangladeshi MP Anwarul Azim Anar.
During interrogation, the butcher admitted to helping the other accused in chopping the victim's body at a flat in Kolkata's New Town area before disposing of the parts in various locations.
"The accused is a butcher by profession. He had entered India illegally and was staying in Mumbai hiding his identity," an official said.
The police officer told PTI, "He was called to Kolkata a couple of months back as a part of the plan to kill Anar. He has admitted that he was an accomplice to the four men who murdered the politician inside the flat and helped them in skinning and chopping the body."
A court in Barasat sent the arrested butcher to the CID's remand for 12 days.
BANGLADESH MP 'HONEY-TRAPPED'
Police officials earlier said that Anar could have been "honey-trapped" before his murder. They suspected that he could have been "lured" into the New Town flat by a woman and they murdered by contract killers.
Later, a woman -- identified as Shilanti Rahman -- suspected to have been the honey-trap, was detained in Dhaka. Reportedly, Rahman is a Bangladeshi national and the girlfriend of the prime accused Akhataruzzaman Shahin.
LAWMAKER 'SKINNED', BODY PARTS 'MINCED'
Horrifying details of Anar's murder emerged as a new video showing two people, believed to have killed the Bangladeshi MP, leaving an apartment in New Town surfaced.
According to officials involved in the probe, Anar was skinned and his body parts were minced in the apartment before getting disposed across the city.
As per the CCTV footage recorded from outside the apartment, two men were seen walking out of the building with one of them carrying a large suitcase, while the other one has several plastic bags.
Jihad Hawladar, an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh, who was arrested for the MP's murder said that the killers skinned Anar's body, removed the flesh and minced it in an attempt to rule out any possibility of identification.
(With agency inputs)
