Staff Reporter :
Police arrested Nayeem Ashraf alias Abdul Halim alias Hasan Mahmud, one of the key accused in the Banani Hotel rape case, from Louhajang upazila of Munshiganj district on Wednesday.
A team from the Police Headquarters conducted a drive there and nabbed Nayeem, said Suheli Ferdous, Assistant Inspector General (Media and PR) of the Police Headquarters.
Nayeem is a friend of the prime accused Ahmed Shafat, who was arrested in Sylhet along with another accused Sadman Sakif on Thursday.
Nayeem’s uncle Moazzem Hossain, said, “His real name is Abdul Halim. He is the son of my brother Amzad Hossain from the village of Gandail. Amzad is a farmer.”
Law enforcers arrested two others of the five accused – Shafat’s bodyguard Rahmat Ali and driver Billal Hossain – from two places of the capital on Monday.
According to Police sources, from 2004 to 2017, Nayeem had built up connections with politicians, media personalities, athletes, models and police officers.
Nayeem Ashraf presented Shafat Ahmed with flowers on March 28, the night when they allegedly raped the two private university girls at The Raintree Hotel in Banani.
Sometimes, he also introduced himself as the vice president of Awami Swechhasebak League’s Kazipara unit. He managed to acquire stakes in restaurants and event management firms.
Invited to Shafat’s birthday party on March 28, the two girls went to the Raintree hotel in Banani around 9:00pm. After the party ended around midnight, Shafat and Nayem raped them in two rooms, alleged one of the two girls who filed the case.
The driver filmed the rape, the bodyguard intimidated the victims while Sakif refrained from informing the hotel authorities about the incident that night.
