Staff Reporter :A hotel boy was shot dead in the city’s Swamibagh area at the instruction of the owner of a city hotel on charge of stealing a mobile phone and some money on Wednesday. The victim identified as Riad Hossain, 17, was staff of Gharoa Hotel and Restaurant in Motijheel.Police have picked up two employees, includingthe manager of the hotel, for interrogation in this connection, said Nurul Islam, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Police of Wari Division under Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).The restaurant owner tried to manufacture a story after shooting one of his employees on allegations of theft of a mobile phone set, the DC said.The police official said that the accused cooked up a mugging story to cover up the real story.Ripon, elder brother of Riad, filed a murder case with Wari Police Station in the afternoon against the hotel owner Ariful Islam Sohel, he said.Earlier, two of Riad’s colleagues who brought him to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) around 1:15am at night described it as a mugging story.Riad’s colleague Jasim Uddin, who claimed to be present on the spot, said “Riyad was going to the house of the restaurant owner in an auto-rickshaw carrying Tk 250,000 of the shop with him at around 1:00am. Then some miscreants signalled to stop the vehicle, but as the vehicle did not stop, the miscreants shot at Riyad, Jasim added. He was taken to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) where he died around 1:30am.”The restaurant’s manager ‘Shafique’ has been detained for questioning while police is looking for the owner Ariful Islam Sohel, said Tapan Kumar Saha, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Wari Police Station.”The employees said that the owner tied up Riyad and shot him for allegedly stealing a mobile phone and some cash,” the police officer claimed. The body was handed over the relatives of the victim, he said.
