Not guilty plea in murder-for-hire case

The Dorchester man accused of trying to hire a hitman to take out his wife and her boyfriend has pleaded not guilty to the two murder-for-hire charges.

Mohammed Chowdhury, 46, appeared via Zoom for his arraignment before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Paul G. Levenson at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

He entered his not-guilty pleas through earbud headphones that picked up the loud voices of others also appearing for virtual hearings at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, R.I., and had to be stopped from asking too many questions in the open court proceedings instead of in a video sidebar with his attorney, Joshua Hanye.

Chowdhury, the affidavit makes clear, sort of bungled his way through various hitmen and details of the planned killing. The unnamed initial FBI source said that Chowdhury came to him with the job offer after another would-be hitman “took the money and did not follow through.”

The new guy, an unnamed informer, gave the FBI Chowdhury’s number and an undercover agent took it from there.

Over the course of several in-person restaurant meetings, text messages and calls over the encrypted service Telegram, according to the affidavit, Chowdhury, who works a minimum-wage job, waffled over price, payment plans and what he actually wanted the man he believed to be a hitman to do.

Chowdhury, who in October 2019 admitted to sufficient facts in Roxbury municipal court that he violated a restraining order placed against him by his wife and the intended target of this case, initially just wanted to “punish” the targets. He wanted them beaten badly but arranged in a way where “no one would think he was coordinating it.” The fake hitman said no dice: that they do murder or they do nothing.

And so Chowdhury allegedly agreed to have his wife and her lover killed for $4,000 a pop, with a $500 down payment paid right before his arrest.

Chowdhury’s next hearing is scheduled for March 27 at 12 p.m.