Police say Gokada CEO Saleh's murder was financially motivated

The Police in New York believe that Fahim Saleh who was the CEO of ride- hailing motorcycle startup, Gokada, was murdered by an assassin in a “financially motivated” operation.

Saleh's decapitated and dismembered body was found in an apartment in a luxury condominium building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side on Tuesday, July 14.

An electrical saw was found plugged to an outlet on the crime scene.

Daily Mail reports that the techpreneur was killed by a professional who rode with him up in the elevator then got out when it opened directly onto Saleh's apartment.

The killer, dressed in a mask, gloves and hat and wearing what police sources described as a 'ninja outfit', had a suitcase with him--presumably to remove his remains when he had finished the job.

The suit

Police sources in New York say Saleh was once sued by a former prison guard turned criminal who was jailed for using his app PrankDial to secretly record and listen to employees' phone calls.

The app allowed Kirk Eady, the former deputy director of Hudson County Correctional Facility, place a call between two employees without them knowing he was behind it, then listen to whatever they said.

Fahim Saleh founded Gokada on his adventure in Lagos, Nigeria (Instagram/Fahim Saleh) Instagram

He listened to their complaints about him and about their jobs then retaliated against them in the workplace, according to prosecutors.

Eady who was jailed for 15 months, sued Saleh for fraud in 2017, claiming the app made him think what he was doing was legal.

A stun gun

New York Daily News quotes the police source as saying that the killer "used a stun gun to incapacitate Saleh before murdering him.

“He was dressed like a ninja, full out, so you can’t even see his face. He clearly knew what he was doing. We think his intent was to get rid of the body parts and go back and clean it up and make it look like nothing happened. He left before he finished the job.”

According to the New York Times, friends of Saleh, 33, describe him "as an ambitious man who ran every morning, kept a busy schedule of meetings and often traveled to Nigeria on business."

Fahim Saleh founded Gokada in Lagos 2 years ago Ringier Africa

He was a tech gadget collector who lived alone with a small dog named Laila.

Laila was found alive in the apartment after the murder.

Saleh was born in Saudi Arabia to Bangladeshi immigrants. He moved with his family quite a bit before settling in Rochester, N.Y., and, later, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

He learned to code from an early age and began developing apps as a teenager.

After graduating from Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., he found early success with PrankDial, an app he invented to make prank phone calls.