Photographer killed after being lured to fake event: Police

The men who killed a photographer on Friday night and snatched three expensive cameras posed as clients, had lured two photographers to Shankar, according to police.

The suspects then snatched three expensive cameras, stabbing Nur Islam Fakir, 26, to death, while Nur Alam Emon managed to run away, leaving his camera.

The attackers took away two of Nur's cameras worth around Tk 5 lakh and Emon's camera worth Tk 3 lakh, Emon told The Daily Star.

Emon said a man hired him and Nur to cover an event in Shankar for Tk 10,500.

"We went there on a battery-run rickshaw. The man who hired us was sitting in the front seat next to the driver. As soon as we reached the Durga Mandir Goli area around 8:00pm, 6-7 masked men armed with machetes stopped us.

"When they grabbed our camera bags and began to flee, Nur tried to stop them. Then they stabbed him."

Shahadat Hossain, inspector of Dhanmondi Police Station, said police watched CCTV footage and spoke to witnesses.

"We suspect it was a planned robbery that ended in the killing," he said.

The man who hired the photographers is currently on the run, he added.

Arif Fakir, a brother of the deceased, told this correspondent that Nur was the third among eight siblings. He had been living at a relative's house in the Shankar area and had been working as a photographer for the last five years.

Meanwhile, police have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the murder of Samiur Rahman, 23, a student of Dr Maleka University College. He was stabbed to death in the Jigatala area on Friday night.

Saiful Islam, officer-in-charge of Hazaribagh Police Station, said, "Some 15 assailants armed with sharp weapons attacked Samiur and three others. Samiur later died from his injuries."

Shah Mostafa Tariquzzaman, assistant commissioner (Dhanmondi Zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star that there was an enmity between two groups over drugs.

"We have identified some of the suspects and are trying to arrest them," he said.

The victim's father, Mashiur Rahman Khan, told The Daily Star that his son was trying to stop the clash between the two groups when the attackers turned on him and stabbed him.

He demanded justice for his son's murder.