A 27-year-old man has been charged with murder after the landlord of his Brooklyn building was found nearly decapitated in the basement Tuesday, police say.

 

Rasel Siddiquee was arrested early Wednesday in connection with the death of Mahuddin Mahmud, a 57-year-old businessman and father of three who was found with his head nearly cut off and his face burned in the basement of a building he owned, according to the NYPD. 

 

Police found Mahmud's body after getting a 911 call about an assault at the building on McDonald Avenue in Kensington. Siddiquee lived in the basement, police say.

 

Family and friends say Mahmud, a Bangladeshi immigrant, came to the U.S. decades ago and worked hard to build a computer software training business.

A childhood friend told NBC 4 New York that Mahmud believed so much in the American dream that his wedding portrait hangs next to an American flag.

 

Mahmud had a wife and three children, ages 20, 9 and 4.

 

Siddiquee is also charged with criminal possession of a weapon. It's not immediately known whether he has an attorney.