2 held over cable trader's death after fall from Hazaribagh rooftop

Two individuals have been arrested today (2 October) over the death of a cable trader who was allegedly pushed off a rooftop in Dhaka's Hazaribagh yesterday (1 October).

The arrested were identified as Badhan and Milton, who worked as the building's security guard and caretaker, said Mosharraf Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Hazaribagh Police Station.

The OC told The Business Standard that the victim Salek Khan, 35, had a dispute with the security guard over cable installation in the building.

Yesterday, an argument over the issue escalated into a physical altercation.

Later, Salek allegedly returned with four to five others and assaulted the guard. When Salek went up to the rooftop, the guard and several others allegedly followed him and pushed him off the building, according to the family's complaint.

"The exact cause of death will be known after the autopsy. We have arrested two people based on the family's allegations and are investigating the incident," Mosharraf Hossain said.

Meanwhile, social media posts have identified Salek as a former assistant secretary of the Dhaka North unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League and a former general secretary of the organisation's Ward 34 unit under Mohammadpur Police Station.

However, the political affiliations could not be independently verified. 

The OC told TBS that police were unaware of any such affiliation and had initially learned that Salek was involved in cable and water businesses.