‘I can pay 4grand for job’: Mass. man pleads guilty to trying to have wife, her boyfriend killed

BOSTON — A Massachusetts man pleaded guilty Thursday to trying to hire a contract killer, who turned out to be an undercover federal agent, to have his estranged wife and her boyfriend murdered, investigators said.

Mohammed Chowdhury, 47, of Boston, pleaded guilty to two counts of use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Massachusetts.

“Mr. Chowdhury’s callousness and disregard for human life is shocking. Not only did he ignore the restraining order filed against him by his wife, he sought to have her and her boyfriend killed,” said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy. “This case is a stark reminder of the heinous nature of domestic violence and its potential to escalate into unthinkable acts.”

In November 2022, an individual notified federal law enforcement that Chowdhury was soliciting assistance in having his wife murdered, prosecutors said in charging documents. The individual accused Chowdhury of paying someone to conduct the murder, but that they took the money and did not follow through with his request.

Chowdhury then told the individual that he needed the “murder done as soon as possible” and that he would “get the money to do so, even robbing a store if necessary to obtain the funds,” prosecutors said.

The individual ultimately provided Chowdhury’s phone number to law enforcement officials, who then used an undercover agent posing as a contract killer to communicate with Chowdhury about his alleged murder-for-hire plot.

On numerous occasions in December 2022 and January 2023, Chowdhury met with undercover agents posing as the contract killer and their associates to seek help with killing his wife and her new boyfriend whom she left him for, prosecutors said. During these meetings and communications, Chowdhury is said to have explained that his wife wouldn’t let him see his children and that he wanted the undercover agents to rob and beat his wife and her boyfriend so that he would not be a suspect.

Chowdhury allegedly asked the agents, “So how we gonna disappear his, uh, body?” and stated, “No evidence. No evidence. No evidence from like, you know, that, uh, I did something, you know?” Chowdhury also allegedly provided the undercover agents with photographs of his wife and her new boyfriend, where they lived, where they worked, and their work schedules.

Chowdhury ultimately agreed to pay $4,000 per murder, with a deposit of $500, according to investigators. He was taken into custody Tuesday morning after he met with the agents and tried to make the agreed-upon payment.

In 2019, Chowdhury was charged in Boston Municipal Court with violating an abuse prevention order prohibiting him from abusing, contacting, or coming within a certain distance of his wife.

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