Brutality personified

Ariful Islam Sohel, owner of Ghoroa Hotel and Restaurant in Motijheel, had been furious with his 16-year-old staff Riad since the boy asked for a raise four months ago.

He would similarly get infuriated with any employee who would ask for a pay hike or want to quit, a number of Ghoroa staff told The Daily Star.

At times, Sohel would come to the restaurant drunk and threaten the workers brandishing his firearm, saying it was a licensed gun and there was not a damn thing anyone could do to him as he was very close to police.

Early Wednesday, the restaurant owner allegedly shot Riad to death with a revolver at his under-construction building in Swamibagh. He went into hiding after the incident.

Riad was about to leave his job and join another restaurant, where he would have got Tk 6,500 per month, according to his brother Ripon. His salary was Tk 3,600 at Ghoroa.

Over the past four months, Riad had been asking for a raise, making the owner furious, added Ripon, who once worked at Ghoroa and was beaten up by Sohel when he decided to quit in 2013.

On May 1 this year, Ripon went Ghoroa to see his brother Riad. "The moment he [Sohel] saw me he flew into a rage and kicked me on the chest and threatened to shoot me if I didn't leave his restaurant immediately."

Jewel, a former staff of Ghoroa, told The Daily Star how the restaurant owner humiliated him when he decided to leave. "He [Sohel] forced me to wear only a small gamchha in front of all the other employees and make me walk in front of them for several minutes."

On Tuesday morning, Ripon called his younger brother but someone else answered the phone and said, "Riad stole a mobile phone and Tk 1,500 from a fellow staff."

Reaching Ghoroa in the evening, he found Riad tied with a rope in the store room. He offered to compensate for whatever was stolen or lost, but to no avail.

Sohel reached the restaurant on an SUV around 12:00am and took Riad away.

Two Ghoroa staff took Riad's body to Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 1:00am on Wednesday, and claimed that he was shot by a mugger at Motijheel, said police and hospital sources.

"I could not do anything. I could not save my younger brother because the owner is so powerful," Ripon said in a choked voice.

Riad was buried in a graveyard at his ancestral home in Chandpur yesterday.

His mother Rokeya Begum had been fainting every now and then since she heard about the killing. His father died when he was in his mother's womb and Rokeya raised her two sons by working as a domestic help in Chandpur.

One of these correspondents yesterday visited the under-construction building, where the shooting is said to have taken place. 

Riad along with some 20 employees of Ghoroa lived in one room on the first floor. Everything in the room was vandalised and there were patches of blood at one corner and also on the corridor leading to it.

The building's four levels have been completed and work for another four floors is going on.

Meanwhile, police have collected CCTV footage from an office on the first floor.

In the footage, shown to this correspondent by police, an SUV stops in front of the building and six men disembark. One of them was holding a stick.

After a while, a number of young men were seen taking a body to the SUV. A figure, which according to police was of Sohel, was seen with a shiny metallic object at his waist. Police said analysing the footage they found that it was a gun attached to the gun-belt.

'POLICE NEGLIGENCE'

Ripon alleged that Sohel managed to flee because of police negligence.

The family went to Wari Police Station on Wednesday morning as they heard media reports that "Riad was killed by muggers". They told police it was Sohel who shot him to death.

But police made no efforts to catch the killer and they also delayed filing the case, he alleged. 

However, officials denied the allegations.

Ripon said Sohel's brother phoned him yesterday morning and asked him to meet in secret. But he showed no interest. "There is no scope for discussion with anybody. I want a trial similar to the one held after the killing of Rajon in Sylhet," he said.

Ripon filed the case on Wednesday evening, accusing Sohel two staff and four unnamed people of the murder.

Asked about the murder probe, Nurul Amin, assistant commissioner of DMP (Wari), said they sent pictures and other details of Sohel to all land, air and water ports so that he can't leave the country.

Muntasirul Islam, deputy commissioner (media) of DMP, said they were scrutinising whether the firearm used in the shooting was licensed.