Pathao founder Fahim Saleh sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder in New York

Tyrese Haspil, the personal assistant of ride-sharing app Pathao co-founder Fahim Saleh, has been convicted of murder. In July 2020, Tyrese was sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing the Bangladeshi technology entrepreneur with an electric saw in an elite apartment in New York and stealing $400,000.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court in Manhattan, New York announced the verdict by convicting murderer Tyrese Haspil. Fahim Saleh, the victim of brutal murder in New York, was the co-founder of Bangladeshi ride-sharing app Pathao and CEO of Nigeria-based motorbike startup Gokada. On July 14, 2020, police recovered his dismembered body from an elite apartment on East Houston Street and Suffolk Street in Manhattan.

Earlier, a Manhattan District Court jury convicted murderer Tyrese Haspil of first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and dismemberment. Tyrese Haspil, 25, was sentenced by Manhattan Supreme Court less than two months after his conviction.

The jury found Fahim Saleh guilty of murder and theft of $400,000 and other charges. Judges said Haspil had been stealing cash from tech entrepreneur Fahim Saleh for a long time. Later, Fahim came to know about the theft. To save Haspil from the case in this incident, he fixed two years to return the money. Angered by this, Haspil decided to kill Fahim. According to the plan, after killing her, he dismembered her body to hide it.

The case was heard for more than two hours in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday. Before announcing the verdict, court judge April Neubauer said that Haspil fell into the trap of greed and brutally killed entrepreneur Fahim Saleh. Money played a major role in this murder.

He said Fahim Saleh had money. Haspil took it. And he wanted to continue receiving this money at any cost. It was at the root of his greed.

Fahim Saleh, 33, grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York. His father Saleh Uddin is a resident of Chittagong, and his mother is a resident of Noakhali. Fahim studied information systems at Bentley University in the United States. In 2014, he launched the ride-sharing app Pathao in Bangladesh. He also co-founded two other companies in Nigeria, including Gokada, a motorcycle ride-sharing service.

The judges of the court said that Fahim was killed by Haspil on July 13, 2020. The next day, he cut Fahim's body into pieces with an electric saw, but the saw's battery ran out of charge. Later he went out to buy a charger. But in the meantime, his cousin went to Fahim's apartment after receiving a phone call from the family members. He reached there and found Fahim's bloody dismembered body.

At that time, fierce discussions started in Bangladesh and New York around this murder. Bangladeshis living in the United States demanded the arrest of Fahim Saleh's killer. A few days later, the New York police arrested Haspil, the killer.

Haspil was appointed as a personal assistant by Saleh in May 2018. Rifayat Saleh, the younger sister of the technology entrepreneur of Bangladeshi origin, broke down in tears during the announcement of the court's verdict. He said to Haspil, "My brother gave you a chance, which you did not deserve." You are an ungrateful person, you are a murderer. I have no sympathy for you.''