Decapitated body of Pathao co-founder found in New York apartment

The limbless, headless torso of Fahim Saleh, the co-founder of Pathao, was found inside his swanky Manhattan condo Tuesday afternoon — an electric saw lying next to the remains, police said.

Police made the grisly discovery in a building on E. Houston St. at Suffolk St. on the Lower East side about 3:30 pm, reports the New York Daily News. 

Cops found contractor bags near the torso, sources said, but didn’t immediately open them to see if the body parts were inside.

The 33-year-old millionaire tech entrepreneur bought the condo for $2.25 million last year. Saleh, a website developer turned venture capital, is the CEO of a motorcycle-sharing company in Lagos, Nigeria.

NYPD spokesman Sgt. Carlos Nieves said all of the body parts were found at the scene but declined to give specifics on where.

“We have a torso, a head that’s been removed, arms, and legs. Everything is still on the scene. We don’t have a motive,” he said.

Detectives were waiting for fingerprint and forensics tests on the body, police sources said.

The NYPD went to the seventh-floor condo after the victim’s sister called 911. She came calling Tuesday because she hadn’t seen her brother in a day, then discovered his dismembered corpse, an NYPD spokesman said.

An elevator surveillance camera may have caught the victim’s last moments, sources said. It shows the victim getting into the elevator Monday, followed quickly by a second man, dressed in a suit, wearing gloves, a hat and a mask over his face.

After the victim walked out onto his floor, he fell immediately, possibly shot or stunned.

“The perp had a suitcase. He was very professional,” one police source said.

The curtains were drawn at the newly-constructed apartment building, where condos were sold starting at $2.15 million last year.

Neighbour Daniel Faust, 40, said he saw police lead two women from the building.

Police also brought a dog, a mid-sized Pomsky, out of the building, he said.

Saleh had described his history as an entrepreneur in a series of posts on Medium.com. He got his start creating a prank calling website, then moved on to create the ride-sharing company- Pathao in his parents’ native Bangladesh.

Most recently, he started Gokada, another motorcycle ride-sharing company in Lagos, but the company faced setbacks and mass layoffs after Lagos banned companies like his in January.

Detectives took his sister to the 7th Precinct stationhouse Tuesday night, and ushered her away from reporters.

Later, two of Saleh’s friends, a man and a woman, arrived at the precinct to check on his sister.

“He was extremely smart, ambitious, very kind,” the female friend said. “Always smiling.”

They described him as a self-made millionaire who brought tech companies into nations like Nigeria and Indonesia, an energetic person who loved gadgets and video games.

Though they believe he was targeted, he never acted like he was worried about anything, the friend said.

“He never said he was scared,” the male friend said. “[He was] always very happy-go-lucky.”

They said he had just moved in recently to this apartment - somewhere around the end of 2019. Saleh posted a photo of his new home on Twitter in December.

“I hope they find that person,” he said.

“Very nice guy,” said Susan Jeffers, who lived in Saleh’s last apartment building on E. 28th St. said. “We met him right at the end of him living here.... He was a young dude from Bangladesh.”

Another woman who works in his old building, called Saleh a “big-time person.”

“No way, that is so sad,” she said after learning about his slaying. “He was a great guy, very friendly, very courteous.”

A worker at a nearby smoke shop, after hearing earlier reports of the gruesome death, said he had nothing but fond memories of Saleh.

“We were open through the (coronavirus) pandemic, he always comes to get candy and beer,” said worker Sam Parakal. “He’s so friendly. It’s pretty sad if he’s the one.”

”It’s shocking and horrifying,” said Jamal Hyman, 51, a longtime E. Houston St. resident. “We don’t have this type of thing around here anymore. It’s just another thing to worry about in the world.”