Contractor shot dead at daily office

Criminals yesterday gunned down a construction entrepreneur inside a daily office at University Market in Kataban in Ramna.

Shahid Anwar Apollo, a friend of the editor of Daily Asian Express, was taking a rest when three men stormed into the office, shot him in his head and fled.

"I found him sleeping on a chair at around 3:15pm when I entered the office. Moments later, I heard a couple of gunshots and the noise of closing the office's shutters," said Jakir Hossain, office assistant of the daily.

Office staffs rushed to the spot and found Apollo lying on the floor, said staff reporter Sultan Mahmud, who took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where doctors pronounced his death.

The staffs claimed Apollo was an assistant editor of the daily and showed his visiting card to reporters at the DMCH.

However, Shaffee Billah Jabber, the daily's editor, denied the claim.

Shaffee told The Daily Star yesterday that Apollo was his friend who used to visit him. "His business rivals might have killed him," he said.