Tyrese Devon Haspil, accused of killing and decapitating Pathao co-founder Fahim Saleh inside the victim’s luxury Manhattan condo, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, his attorneys said on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Tyrese Haspil, a native New Yorker, has had no prior contact with the criminal justice system before his alleged involvement in the grisly murder, said Sam Roberts and Neville Mitchell, Legal Aid Society attorneys with the Homicide Defense Task Force.

“We are in the very earliest stages of ferreting out the truth. The life of this case promises to be long and complex. As the attorneys for Mr. Haspil, we urge the public to keep an open mind,” they said in a statement.

The former executive assistant to Fahim has been charged with second-degree murder after his arrest on Friday in connection with employer’s murder at the latter’s luxury condo at Lower East Side in New York’s Manhattan.

Fahim, a co-founder of Bangladeshi ride-sharing company Pathao and the CEO of Nigeria-based ride-hailing firm Gokada, was discovered brutally murdered on July 14, when his sister went to check on him at his apartment.

Haspil allegedly assaulted Saleh with a Taser before killing him and dismembering his body, police said.

Haspil handled Saleh’s finances and personal matters, according to police, and a law enforcement official said he owed Saleh tens of thousands of dollars and was on a repayment plan.

When Saleh’s cousin rang the doorbell to his condo, the assistant was allegedly dismembering his body with an electrical saw and fled, according to a law enforcement official. The cousin found that Saleh’s head, arms and legs had been severed in the living room of the condo, NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said.

According to the complaint, video surveillance shows a male, identified as Haspil, following Saleh up the elevator into his apartment on Monday and shooting him with a Taser.

The next morning, video surveillance allegedly shows Haspil went to a hardware store to purchase cleaning supplies and an electric saw, according to the complaint. The electric saw and cleaning supplies were observed in the apartment next to the dismembered and decapitated torso of Saleh, the complaint states.

Saleh, according to the medical examiner, was stabbed five times in his neck and torso, had multiple incise wounds to his arms and left hand and a contusion to his left forehead, the criminal complaint says.

Haspil’s next court date is scheduled for August, according to the District Attorney’s office.