'Kashai Jihad' fled to India after killing an AL leader in Khulna
Jihad, 24, was put on a 12-day remand by India’s Barasat court on Friday. The West Bengal CID arrested him over his alleged involvement in Azim’s murder.
Jihad Hawladar, a butcher by profession and accused of taking part in the killing mission of Jhenaidah-4 MP Anwarul Azim Anar in Kolkata, has criminal records in Bangladesh, including the murder of an Awami League leader in Khulna.
Jihad, 24, was put on a 12-day remand by India's Barasat court on Friday. The West Bengal CID arrested him over his alleged involvement in Azim's murder.
According to DB police in Dhaka, he was hired by the main suspect, Akhtaruzzaman Shahin, from Mumbai, and was tasked with cutting Azim's body parts into small pieces for easy disposal from an apartment in Kolkata.
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Local people said Jihad, the son of Joynal Hawladar, hailing from Barakpur union in Digholia upazila of Khulna, is the youngest of four brothers. He has a wife and a young son at his village home.
They said Jihad has been illegally living in India for the last one and a half years. But they knew he had been working there as a painter.
Jihad has a previous robbery case against him. Besides, the police have recently submitted a charge sheet for the Sheikh Ansar Ali murder case, indicting Jihad.
On 24 March 2023, Ansar Ali, former cultural secretary of Dighlia upazila AL, was shot dead in front of Linda Clinic in Shiromani area of Khulna.
Palash Kumar Das, the investigating officer of the case, told TBS "Three people were involved in the murder. They are Jihad, Rafiq and Billal, who came on a motorcycle and fled the scene after the killing."
"The name of Jihad was not in the FIR of the murder case. But on investigation, it was found that he was one of the members of the killing mission. He has been on the run since the murder," he added.
Local people and political activists said Ansar was murdered over political disputes with the family of Zakir Hossain, former chairman of Barakpur union, who had been alleged killed by his political rivals.
Ansar was the prime suspect in the Zahir Hossain murder and Jihad was a close aide of the former UP chairman, according to locals.
