The victim, identified as Joinal Abedin, 37, was staying at his father-in-law Anwar Hossain's residence during the robbery. Police arrested a suspect of the robbery, identified as Delwar Hossain, 26, yesterday morning.

Sources said armed robbers entered a poultry farm owned by Abedin at about 1:30am, woke up Khokon, an employee of the farm and forced him to go to the residence of Anwar Hossain.

They made Khokon wake Abedin up and once Abedin opened the door, the robbers tied him with rope and slayed in a room at the corner.

Later they made his mother-in-law hand them the key of the almirahs and looted cash, gold ornaments and other valuables before leaving the spot.

During the robbery, Abedin's wife and two children were staying at his rented house at Uttara while his father-in-law Anwar Hossain was staying at his village at Sonmania in Kapasia with his second wife.

Locals said Abedin had long been an expatriate in Singapore and Japan and started the poultry farm business after returning to Bangladesh. He had disputes with some of his relatives and that's why he was staying at his in-law's residence. His wife and children were in the town because of the children's academic activities.