Police on Tuesday said the five accused in a case filed over the rape of two private university girls in a Banani hotel will be arrested anytime as they are now under law enforcers’ watch.
Since the rape incident came to the fore, different law enforcement agencies, including Detective Branch (DB) and Rapid Action Battalion, started ‘shadow’ investigation into it alongside thana police. One of the rape victims filed a case with Banani Police Station on May 6 accusing five people.
Of the accused, Shafat Ahmed, 26, and Nayem Ashraf, 30, were sued for raping the two female university students while Sadman Shafiq, 24, Shafat’s driver Billal, 26, and his unnamed bodyguard for abetting in the crime.
Inspector (Investigation) of the police station Abdul Matin was made investigation officer (IO) of the case.
Contacted, the IO told UNB that his team has been carrying out drives in various areas, including Gulshan and Banani, to arrest the culprits. “We raided several places, including the Gulshan residences of Shafat and Nayeem, on Monday night to arrest them but couldn’t find them. A special police team also raided the Shafat’s residence on Tuesday noon,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner (Gulshan) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Mostak Ahmed has formed the special team to arrest the accused, the IO said, adding that other agencies like DB and Rab were also hunting for the suspected rapists.
He expressed the hope that the perpetrators will be arrested anytime as police and other agencies were hunting them.
According to the case statement, the plaintiff along with her friend went to the residential hotel at Banani to attend the birthday party of Shafat around 9pm on March 28.
The two prime accused-Shafat and Nayem-confined them to two rooms of the hotel at gunpoint after the rooftop birthday party was over at midnight. The two girls were made to drink liquor before being raped. Shafat raped the plaintiff while Nayem her friend. Shafat’s driver Billal filmed the incident, she said in the FIR adding that they got introduced with Shafat and Nayem through Sadman Shafiq.
