Police have arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with the murder and dismemberment of his roommate, whose body parts were recovered from several locations across the capital.
The suspect, Md Shahin Alam, an employee at Hirajheel Hotel in Motijheel, was arrested from his workplace on Saturday.
He shared a flat with the victim, Md Obaidullah, 30, a marketing officer at Gonoshasthya Homeo, a homeopathy clinic in Purana Paltan area.
Deputy Commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP)'s Motijheel Division Harun-or-Rashid disclosed how police uncovered the gruesome murder during a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre on Sunday.
"We recovered a severed leg in front of Ananda Community Centre in Naya Paltan area around 2:00am on Saturday. Two hands were later found in front of the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Gulistan. Another leg was recovered from the Kamalapur Railway Station area around 2:00pm the same day," he said.
Police identified the victim as Md Obaidullah through biometric analysis. Analysing CCTV footage and using information technology, police traced the suspect's location and arrested Shahin from his workplace on Saturday.
Following his confessional statement, police recovered a machete used in the killing, the victim's mobile phone, and a bicycle used to transport the body parts from a rented flat at Kabi Jasimuddin Road.
Acting on further information from the accused, police retrieved the severed head from a landfill in Matuail and a portion of the torso from beneath Salehpur Bridge in Aminbazar.
According to DC Harun-or-Rashid, the motive stemmed from long-standing resentment.
Shahin alleged that Obaidullah had made immoral proposals toward him. On February 27, while returning home from work, Shahin received a call from Obaidullah asking him to bring cigarettes. Later, he was again asked to bring bread and kebabs. Shahin became irritated as he was repeatedly asked to go downstairs from their sixth-floor residence after iftar.
Later that night, an argument broke out between the two as Obaidullah was speaking loudly on the phone while Shahin was trying to sleep. Enraged, Shahin brought a machete from the kitchen and attacked Obaidullah, killing him on the spot, the police official said.
After ensuring the death, Shahin dismembered the body and disposed of the parts at different locations across the capital in an attempt to evade arrest, he added.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com
