Debt despair turns deadly: Man arrested for murder of ATM booth guard
Detectives yesterday arrested a man on charge of killing a security guard of Modhumoti Bank's ATM booth in Dhaka's Shahjadpur a day before Eid-ul-Fitr.
A team of detectives arrested Ariful Islam, 27, during a raid in Kalachandpur area under Gulshan Police Station, Harun-Or-Rashid, chief of detective branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police told a press briefing at the DMP media centre today.
He admitted stabbing Hasan Mahmud, 55, to death as the latter tried to prevent Ariful from breaking open the ATM on the morning of April 10, Harun said.
The DB official said Ariful planned to loot cash from the ATM booth after watching videos of similar crimes on YouTube. He bought a hammer and shovel and other equipment from a market, and a Bangladesh cricket team jersey from a roadside stall.
Ariful chose the Shahjadpur ATM booth, believing fewer people used it and therefore it would be easy for him to break it and take the cash, Harun said.
The DB chief said that in primary interrogation, Ariful said he was once in the business of providing home-shifting services, but started a business of supplying construction materials two to three years ago.
He incurred huge losses and was burdened with a debt of around Tk 15 lakh. To repay the debt, he even pasted posters in Mirpur advertising the sale of his kidney, Harun said quoting the arrestee.
As creditors were looking for him for repayment, Ariful went into hiding fearing reprisal. He planned to rob the ATM booth to pay the off the debt, he added.
On April 10, the accused wearing the jersey of the national cricket team entered the booth around 5:15am and stabbed the security guard, who tried to stop him from breaking the ATM.
He then tried break open the ATM with his hammer and shovel, but only managed to partially break it. After trying for 10 to 12 minutes and failing to take out the cash, Ariful left the booth and immediately got on a bus. He kept the jersey under a seat and got down from the bus in Mirpur.
Hasan, the security guard, died on the spot and police recovered his body later that morning.