The body of a land trader missing for three days was found under a pile of sand in Dhaka’s Lalbagh today. Police suspect he was killed by a business associate and friend when he went to collect Tk 3 lakh in dues.
The victim, Sheikh Wasim Rony, 43, lived in Jatrabari, said police.

Police had earlier detained his friend Masum, an imitation jewellery trader at Ashiq Tower in Chawk Bazar, for questioning after Rony went missing. 

Based on Masum’s confession, police went to his house and recovered the body from a pile of sand around 4:00am, Lalbagh Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Jamil Hossain said. The hands and feet were tied and the face covered with a polythene.

According to police, Rony went to Masum’s house in Lalbagh to collect Tk 3 lakh in dues. At that time, an altercation broke out and at one point Masum strangled Rony to death. Masum later buried the body under a pile of sand in his house.

Rony’s family had filed a general diary with Lalbagh Police Station after he went missing following which, police detained Masum, who confessed to the crime during interrogation, OC said.
The body was sent to the Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy.

Rony’s daughter Ramisa Akter Sonam said her father left their Jatrabari home around September 8 afternoon, saying he was going to collect a Tk 3 lakh cheque owed to him by Masum.

“We could not contact him despite repeated attempts,” she said.

That evening, Ramisa and her mother went to Masum’s house in Lalbagh in search of Rony. Only Masum’s wife was there. When they contacted Masum by phone, he told them that he had already handed over the cheque to Rony and did not know where Rony had gone, Ramisa said.

The family later filed a general diary with Lalbagh Police Station that night. 

Ramisa said Masum was also present when they filed the GD and later appeared to cooperate with the family in their search for Rony.

However, CCTV footage from a lane near Masum’s house showed Rony riding his motorcycle on one camera but was not seen passing the other camera further down the lane. Masum’s house is situated between the two cameras. Rony was also not seen returning through the first camera, she added.

Rony’s family demanded the highest punishment for those responsible for the killing.

Police primarily suspect that the killing stemmed from the financial dispute. The matter was being investigated further.