A man’s decapitated, dismembered body was found in an apartment in a luxury condominium building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
When detectives began investigating, they found the man’s torso and an electric saw nearby, two law enforcement officials briefed on the matter said. The man’s head and limbs were later found in the apartment, a Police Department spokesman said.
There were several large plastic bags in the apartment, and it appeared that some effort had been made to clean up any evidence of what had happened, one law enforcement officials briefed on the matter said.
The police did not immediately identify the man, but several friends who spoke on the condition of anonymity said he was Fahim Saleh, a 33-year-old technology entrepreneur and the owner of the condo where the body was found.
Mr. Saleh’s sister made the gruesome discovery at around 3:30 p.m. when she went to check on him after not hearing from him for a day, the officials said. After finding the body, she called the police, officials said.
The saw was still plugged into an electrical outlet when the police arrived, leading detectives to investigate whether the arrival of Mr. Saleh’s sister at the condo might have interrupted the killing and prompted the killer to flee through another exit, one of the law enforcement officials said.
The medical examiner has not officially determined the cause of death, but police were investigating the incident as a homicide, the officials said.
The entrepreneur was best known for his role in creating popular start-ups in Nigeria and Bangladesh.
Police have not publicly commented on the case or any identity but Gokada, one of the firms Saleh co-founded, tweeted to confirm his death.
“We are deeply saddened to inform you about the sudden and tragic loss of our founder and CEO, Fahim Saleh,” the firm said on Wednesday.
According to US media reports, CCTV footage from the building in which Saleh lived showed him entering a lift with a man wearing a mask on Monday.
An unnamed source in law enforcement told the New York Post the crime scene looked like a “professional” killing.
The 33 year old, who was the son of Bangladeshi immigrants, created his first company while still in high school.
He went on to co-found the ride company Pathao, which is popular in Bangladesh and Nepal, in 2015.
More recently he helped found Nigerian motorbike taxi app Gokada, but the company faced a setback after authorities in Lagos banned motorbike taxis earlier this year .
Both companies have paid tribute to the entrepreneur.
Gokada described Saleh as “a great leader, inspiration and positive light for all of us” in its tweet.
Hussein M Elius, who co-founded Pathao with Saleh, told Bangladesh’s Daily Star newspaper: “Fahim believed in the potential for technology to transform lives in Bangladesh and beyond.
“He saw the promise in us when all we had was a common purpose and a shared vision. He was, and will forever remain, an incredible inspiration for Pathao and our entire ecosystem.”
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