Gulshan double murder: ‘Shop employee kills cigarette trader, assistant’

Two decomposing bodies were recovered from a tin-roofed house in the capital’s Gulshan-2 neighbourhood yesterday.
The victims, identified as Rafiq, 62, from Barishal, and Sabbir, 15, from Mymensingh, had their throats slit and their bodies bore multiple stab wounds, said police.
Rafiq, a caretaker of an empty plot of land on Road 108, had been living in the tin-roofed house for the past decade. He had also been running a wholesale cigarette shop on the same plot. Sabbir was his employee who helped out at the shop. The owner of the plot lives abroad.
Rafiq’s son, Arifur Rahman Bappi, who went through CCTV footage collected from the area, told The Daily Star that the double murder took place early Friday morning.
According to Bappi, both victims were killed by a recently hired employee. The suspect, whose identity remains unknown, fled the scene with a significant amount of cash and cigarettes from Rafiq’s shop.
Citing the contents of the CCTV footage, Bappi said the employee was seen exiting the house, where Rafiq and Sabbir had been staying, around 6:30am on Friday. Later, a pickup van arrived at the scene, on which the employee was seen loading multiple sacks with the help of the driver.
However, when contacted, the police did not confirm the details provided by Bappi. Yesterday morning, local residents alerted the police after noticing a foul odour emitting from Rafiq’s house.
After arriving at the house, police found the bodies with their throats slit.
The bodies were later sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital mortuary.
Gulshan Police Station Officer-in-Charge Touhid Ahmed said an investigation was underway to apprehend the perpetrator.