Fahim Saleh, CEO and founder of Gokada was the decapitated body found in Manhattan apartment

Fahim Saleh

There is an indication that Fahim Saleh, CEO and founder of Gokada was the decapitated body found in Manhattan.

Fahim Saleh was a Bangladeshi-American who founded Gokada in Nigeria as a motorcycle-hailing startup before changed the company into a delivery and logistics company.

His decapitated and dismembered was found inside a Lower East Side Manhattan apartment on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the New York Post, the decapitated body was sorted in plastic bags right next to a power saw, sources told The Post.

The medium reported that the police came upon the grisly scene shortly after 3:30 p.m. (New York time), after a friend of the dead man requested a welfare check at the man’s E. Houston Street building and called police, the sources said.

An electric saw was found near the body, which was described as a man in his 30s. The victim’s legs and arms were completely removed, and body parts were found in plastic bags found in the apartment, the sources said.

“This is ugly,” one cop at the scene said.

According to Nydailynews.com, detectives were waiting for fingerprint and forensics tests on the body, police sources said.

The NYPD went to the seventh-floor condo after the victim’s sister called 911. She came calling Tuesday because she hadn’t seen her brother in a day, then discovered his dismembered corpse, an NYPD spokesman said.

An elevator surveillance camera may have caught the victim’s last moments, sources said. It shows the victim getting into the elevator Monday, followed quickly by a second man, dressed in a suit, wearing gloves, a hat and a mask over his face.

After the victim walked out onto his floor, he fell immediately, possibly shot or stunned.

“The perp had a suitcase. He was very professional,” one police source said.

READ THE INITIAL NEWS HERE:

VIDEO: Decapitated body of a man found in Manhattan apartment

The curtains were drawn at the newly-constructed apartment building, where condos were sold starting at $2.15 million last year.

Neighbor Daniel Faust, 40, said he saw police lead two women from the building.

“There was one that came first, with short black hair. Then a second one came, a little taller and with long hair. They were just hysterical, I guess in disbelief. And then they left with the detectives,” he said.

Police also brought a dog, a mid-sized Pomsky, out of the building, he said.

Saleh has described his history as an entrepreneur in a series of posts on Medium.com. He got his start creating a prank calling website, then moved on to create a motorcycle taxi company in his parents’ native Bangladesh.

Most recently, he started Gokada, a motorcycle ride-sharing company in Lagos, but the company faced setbacks and mass layoffs after Lagos banned companies like his in January.

Detectives took his sister to the 7th Precinct stationhouse Tuesday night, and ushered her away from reporters.

“He was extremely smart, ambitious, very kind,” the female friend said. “Always smiling.”

They described him as a self-made millionaire who brought tech companies into nations like Nigeria and Indonesia, an energetic person who loved gadgets and video games.

Though they believe he was targeted, he never acted like he was worried about anything, the friend said.

“He never said he was scared,” the male friend said. “[He was] always very happy-go-lucky.”

They said he had just moved in recently to this apartment – somewhere around the end of 2019. Saleh posted a photo of his new home on Twitter in December.

“I hope they find that person,” he said.

“Very nice guy,” said Susan Jeffers, who lived in Saleh’s last apartment building on E. 28th St. said. “We met him right at the end of him living here…. He was a young dude from Bangladesh.”

Another woman who works in his old building, called Saleh a “big-time person.”

“No way, that is so sad,” she said after learning about his slaying. “He was a great guy, very friendly, very courteous.”

A worker at a nearby smoke shop, after hearing earlier reports of the gruesome death, said he had nothing but fond memories of Saleh.

“We were open through the (coronavirus) pandemic, he always comes to get candy and beer,” said worker Sam Parakal. “He’s so friendly. It’s pretty sad if he’s the one.”

The 7th Precinct hasn’t seen a killing since 2015.

”It’s shocking and horrifying,” said Jamal Hyman, 51, a longtime E. Houston St. resident. “We don’t have this type of thing around here anymore. It’s just another thing to worry about in the world.”

READ ALSO:

Empire actor, Bryshere Gray arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife

Share:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *