India, May 25 -- The sleuths of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch probing the murder mystery of Bangladesh member of Parliament (MP) Md. Anwarul Azim suspect that the victim and the prime accused Aktaruzzaman Shahin, who is now absconding, were into gold smuggling and the two business partners had fallen out over sharing of profits, people familiar with the matter said.

"The accused persons have claimed during interrogation that Azim and Shahin were into gold smuggling and some problem had cropped up between the two long-term partners over profit sharing. We are verifying their statements," a senior officer of the Detective Branch said on the condition of anonymity.

Azim had come to India on a personal visit on May 12. He...