Purba Bangla Communist Party leader Saiful arrested over Anar murder in Jashore

Saiful Alam Member, the second-in-command to Shimul Bhuiyan, a leader of the defunct extremist group Purba Bangla Communist Party, has been arrested by Detective Branch (DB) of police in connection with the murder of Jhenaidah-4 MP Anwarul Azim Anar.

The arrestee identified as Saiful Alam, 48, is the son of Abul Kashem Mollah from Dattagati village in the ward No- 9 of Payra Union under Abhaynagar Upazila of the Jashore.

The arrest was made during a raid at Adarsha Matsya Hatchery in the Raypara Bablatala area of Jashore city on Tuesday night around 9:30pm.

During the arrest, police recovered a mobile phone with an Indian SIM card and materials for making explosives from Saiful‍‍`s possession.

According to the DB, Saiful had been hiding at the hatchery for several days.

Sub-Inspector (SI) Mofizul Islam of Jashore DB said the arrestee is a notorious associate of Shimul Bhuiyan. Saiful is an accused listed in charge sheets for the murders of Uday Shankar, Rakib, and Subrata in Jashore, and is also a fugitive in one of these cases.

When the investigation into MP Anar‍‍`s murder began, Saiful went into hiding. Acting on a tip-off, the police conducted the raid at 9:30pm on Tuesday and arrested him from the hatchery in Raypara Bablatala, he said.

The DB officer said that Saiful had been in the Satkhira and India border areas recently and maintained contact with Shimul Bhuiyan using an Indian mobile number.

The authorities are investigating his involvement in MP Anar‍‍`s murder, he said, declining to reveal more details for the sake of the ongoing investigation.