'Eskey' Noor Palash, known among the city's underground network and friends simply as SK, never passed primary school. According to his friends, he only knew how to sign his name.

Many of his co-football players now play for the national team, and SK himself was also selected for the national team.

One of SK's neighbours said that the gangster was extremely ambitious in life and gave utmost priority to earning

A group of five unidentified gunmen gunned him down on Saturday at about 10 in the morning near his house at Elephant Road near Bata Signal. He was chatting with his elder brother Ganja Noor when the gunmen struck.

In the early nineties, SK earned a name as a promising football player.

money at any cost.

"His involvement with football waned quickly and the young footballer started indulging in extortion, killings and other antisocial activities," said one of his friends, on condition of anonymity.

Within a few months, SK became

famous for his defiant attitude. Although he was involved in several cases of killings, extortion and other unlawful activities he managed to escape many of the cases except one, according to close associates.

He is the main accused in the Shibly Sadique murder case, which was committed in 2000. The case is still pending in court.

A good number of garment factories are located on Elephant Road, close to his residence. In the mid-nineties, he became an activist of the Awami League. From those days he dominated the business of garment jut (spare garment material) in his locality.

He also developed intense rivalry with other factions operating around the area. It was in 1999 when Sujon's group, his main opposition gang, first tried to kill him. During Ramadan in that year, members of Sujon's group shot him in his own house just after iftar.

Fortunately, he managed to survive and thus continued his criminal activities. "The following year, Sujon was gunned down in the Mohammadpur area and the members of this group joined SK's group. After the death of Shibly Sadique and Sujon, SK was left without any rival and ruled the area like a king," said another of his friends.

Many in the area believe that SK had been behind Sujon's killing, but was not made a suspect in the murder case.

"He tried to mend his ways, but still could not survive. That is the consequence that must be paid for extortion and killings," said a residence of the locality.