The owner of a fabric printing factory in the capital's Kamrangirchar was brutally killed, dismembered, and then buried inside his own factory early Friday.

Police recovered the body yesterday, four days after he went missing. Earlier, they arrested three people, including an employee of the factory.

Amirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Kamrangirchar Police Station, said the deceased, identified as 57-year-old Nur-e-Alam, was murdered by his employee Miraj and three others.

The OC said Miraj was gambling with three outsiders inside the factory when Nur was sleeping in another room there. Nur woke up due to the noise the four were making and reprimanded them for gambling.

They then attacked Nur. One of them struck him with a hammer and another stabbed him in the chest, killing him on the spot.

They then dismembered the body and buried it about two feet beneath the ground inside the tin-shed factory, OC Amirul said, quoting the arrestees. 

The victim's son-in-law Ataullah Khan Sajib said Nur used to live in the factory, which he set up a year ago in Kamrangirchar's Hasan Nagar area, while his family lives in Mymensingh's Gafargaon.

Miraj, who was employed 20 days before the murder, used to live in another room in the factory.

"My father-in-law went to bed early on Thursday night as he was supposed to visit the family the next morning. But he woke up as the killers were making noise.

"After killing him, the killers dug a pit, placed his dismembered body inside, and sealed the pit with plaster to cover up the murder," he said.

Ataullah added, "My mother-in-law received a phone call from her husband around 4:35am. When she answered, no one spoke, but she could hear noises and shouting from the other end. She suspected that something might have happened at the factory."

The next morning, as Nur did not return home, the family tried calling him and found his phone switched off. They then sought help from police.

OC Amirul said they heard the description of the phone call on the night of the incident and analysed other evidences, leading to the arrest Miraj and two others. "We're trying to arrest the other killer."

Nur's body was sent to hospital morgue for an autopsy.