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Investigators of the West Bengal central investigation department on Tuesday claimed to have recovered pieces of flesh and strands of hair from the septic tank of a flat in New Town area near here, where Bangladesh MP Anwarul Azim Anar was suspected to have been murdered.
An arrested person, who police claimed is a butcher by profession, allegedly chopped the body of the Bangladesh lawmaker into 80 pieces and mixed them with turmeric before disposing them of at different locations including a canal around New Town.
“A total of around 3.5 kg of flesh and some strands of hair were recovered from the septic tank. Forensic tests will be conducted on these items to confirm whether they belong to Anar or not," the officer told PTI.
Assuming that blood was drained out of the washroom bathroom of the flat, where the lawmaker of the Bangladeshi ruling party, was suspected to have been murdered, a team of police officers had examined the drain pipes and the septic tank, he said.
"We had requested the authorities of the housing complex to help us examine the sewage pipes and the septic tank," he said.
The Disaster Management Team of the Kolkata Police on Tuesday resumed search in the Bagjola canal adjacent to an amusement park near Rajarhat, an officer said, adding that drones were also employed in the search.
Kolkata Police officers had earlier said that finding the body parts would be a tough job due to heavy rainfall following Cyclone Remal on Monday.
"It's been over a fortnight that the crime was carried out. The body parts were chopped into smaller parts and there was a high chance that those were eaten up by aquatic animals. The Bagjola Canal has dirty water and the body parts could be swept away by the flow," the police officer said.
Divers were employed to spot the body parts as well as the murder tools from the canal, he added.
Earlier, the Bangladesh Police said that they may conduct DNA tests of the blood specimen found in a flat in New Town near here and match the results with that of one of the relatives of the Bangladeshi MP to confirm that the politician was murdered.
The DNA tests would be conducted as the last option in case the body parts of the Awami League MP could not be found, an officer of the Dhaka police visiting Kolkata as part of the investigation said.
"In case the body parts are not found, then we will conduct DNA tests on the blood samples and match the result with the DNA of one of Anar's family members to establish the identity and start a case according to the law," the officer said.
A three-member team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch is in the city to investigate the death of Anar. The team is being led by the Detective Branch chief Mohammad Harun-or-Rashid.
The search for the missing MP, who reportedly arrived in Kolkata on May 12 to undergo medical treatment, began after Gopal Biswas, a resident of Baranagar in north Kolkata and an acquaintance of the Bangladeshi politician, filed a complaint with the local police on May 18.
Anar had stayed at Biswas's house upon arrival.
In his complaint, Biswas stated that Anar left his Baranagar residence for a doctor's appointment in the afternoon of May 13 and that he would be back home for dinner.
Biswas claimed that the Bangladesh MP went incommunicado on May 17, which prompted him to file a missing complaint a day later.