InterContinental hotel engineer Subrata was murdered: Family, friends

Hotel Intercontinental engineer Subrata Saha's family and friends on Monday claimed that Subrata was killed in a planned way as he tried to prevent hotel officials from misappropriating the budget – allocated for renovating the hotel.

They came up with this claim on Monday at a press conference at Nasrul Hamid auditorium of Dhaka Reporters' Unity at Segunbagicha in Dhaka.

Family and friends alleged Tk 6 billion was allocated for the maintenance of the five star Intercontinental hotel. The renovation didn't take that much money.

Some officials of the hotel tried to embezzle the money from the budget, making a fake bill.

Therefore, they were pressurising engineer Subrata Saha.

Police recovered the body of Subrata Saha from Intercontinental hotel premises on 25 May – when hotel authorities claimed his death as 'suicide'. Police also mentioned his death as 'suicide' in their primary investigation.

At the press conference, engineer Riyasaat Sumon said two months have already elapsed since the incident, but the actual reason behind the death has not been known yet.

Hotel authorities are making confusing remarks over his death. Sometime, they are saying, Subrata committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the 11-storey hotel.

They are also claiming he was suffering from the mental disease and taking regular treatment. Besides, he was mentally depressed since he incurred losses in the share market. But his family refuted these claims.

"Tk six billion was allocated for the hotel renovation. Subrata told us that Ashrafur Rahim, the chief engineer of the hotel's planning and engineering department, and Azizar Rahman, the managing engineer, tried to embezzle the money. They were pressurising Subrata to make an additional bill and sign there. As he did not agree to the proposal, he was killed in a planned way", claimed Riyasaat Sumon.

Riyasaat Suman said Subrata was working here as an engineer for about 22 years. He was harassed in various ways for almost a year as he did not agree to the proposal of the two officials. He also informed his wife about the harassment at the workplace.

"It was mentioned in the case statement that there was a conflict between Subrata and the two officials – who went into hiding for a few days after the murder case was filed. But now they are performing office duties. Although two months have elapsed, police did not arrest or interrogate any accused in the case. Investigation officers spoke to his wife Nupur Saha a month ago. After that there is no further progress in the case", lamented Riyasaat Suman.

He demanded unearthing the real facts through investigation and arresting the persons responsible.

Several phone calls were made to engineer Ashrafur Rahim to learn about the matter, but he did not pick up the call, while the phone of Azizar Rahman was found switched off.