TV founder charged with beheading wife

New York, Feb 17: The founder of the first US cable television network aimed at Muslim families has been arrested and charged with beheading his wife, police said.Muzzammil Hassan was charged with second-degree murder of his wife, Aasiya Hassan, whose decapitated body was found Thursday by police at the Bridges TV station in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park in western New York state, police said.

"He came in and told us his wife was dead," Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz told AFP, referring to Hassan. He said police found the body at the station and arrested Hassan, 44, who was being held at the Erie County holding center. The Pakistani-born ex-banker with no prior television industry experience told AFP in 2004, when the network was launched, that it had been his wife`s idea to launch the first English-language cable television channel aimed at US and Canadian Muslims. Bridges TV said in a statement it was "deeply shocked and saddened by the murder of Aasiya (Zubair) Hassan and subsequent arrest of Muzzammil Hassan." Local media reports said Hassan`s wife, 37, had filed for divorce January 6, and that police had responded to numerous domestic violence calls at the couple`s home. He reportedly had two children, age four and six, with his wife, and two other children, age 17 and 18, from a previous marriage. "When we did our market research, what people told us was that there are foreign-language channels available in the US, but they cater to their foreign-born parents and not their American children," Hassan told AFP in 2004. "Bridges TV is trying to fill that gap," he said. Its programming ranges from Koranic and Islamic religious content to news, documentaries, soap operas and shows geared toward women and children, in a bid to reflect many facets of life. Bureau Report