Bangla Press Desk: The murder of Fahim Saleh, co-founder of ride-sharing venture Pathao, has been ruled as a homicide and investigators in New York hinted that the killing might be linked to financial issues.
The 33-year-old tech-entrepreneur was found dismembered inside a luxury apartment in New York’s Lower East Side on Tuesday afternoon.The motive of Saleh’s murder appeared to be financial in nature, a senior NYPD official told NBC2 on Wednesday. An investigation is under way but no arrests have yet been made, an NYPD spokeswoman told AFP.
Saleh’s sister, who went to his apartment to check on him as he didn’t contact his family for a day, discovered his body before calling the police, officials told the Daily News tabloid.
Responding officers discovered a clothed torso, bags containing a head and arms and the electric saw in the living room, police said.
Investigators also recovered security video showing Saleh exiting an elevator that leads directly into the full-floor, two-bedroom apartment earlier on Tuesday afternoon, closely followed by someone dressed entirely in black, including a mask, according to a law enforcement official who was briefed on the case.
It also shows a struggle between the two at the entrance to the apartment, said the official, who was not authorised to discuss the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Police believe the relative may have interrupted the intruder before he could finish off the cleaning job. He fled through a back exit, Daily News tabloid reported citing sources.
The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide after an autopsy found the cause of death to be multiple stab wounds to the body. Investigators were checking security camera videos from the neighbourhood to try to locate the suspect.
As NYPD detectives sought the black-clad killer, his family issued a plea for justice. “No words or actions to provide any of us comfort except the capture of the person who exhibited nothing short of evil upon our loved one,” the family statement said.
“We need and urge the NYPD and other members of law enforcement to work diligently to get to the bottom of this horrific crime and bring justice for Fahim.”
The family described the brutality of the killing as beyond comprehension.
“The headlines talk about a crime we still cannot fathom,” the statement said, going on to say that the loss was more enormous than anyone but those who really knew Saleh could understand.
“Fahim is more than what you are reading. He is so much more. His brilliant and innovative mind took everyone who was a part of his world on a journey and he made sure never to leave anyone behind.”
Besides Pathao, Saleh was the chief executive and co-founder of Gokada, a motorcycle ride-sharing service that operated in Nigeria—one of his latest ventures in an entrepreneurial career that began when he was in his teens.
Friends dubbed the entrepreneur the “Elon Musk of the developing world,” NBC reported. Following his death, Saleh’s former Co-Founder at Gokada, Deji Oduntan, tweeted: “I am utterly shocked and deeply saddened by the news of Fahim’s death.
“Fahim was passionate about building our Ecosystem and left an indelible mark in it.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, Oduntan was the Co-Found and CEO until March 2019. Oduntan stepped down amid unconfirmed allegations of mismanagement, digital barker reported at the time.
Gokada raised $5.3million in funding in May 2019, Techcrunch reported, and documents show the company filed a security offering of $1.7million in June 2019.
However, in February of this year, the company laid off 75 percent of its workforce following a ban on tricycles and bikes in Lagos, local media reported. Report: Agencies
BP/SM
