Sylhet Bureau :
Police on Sunday arrested two accused, including key suspect Saifur Rahman, in the gang-rape case of newly-wed woman in Sylhet MC College hostel.
Shaheb Ali Pathan, Additional Police Superintendent (crime) of Sunamganj, said prime suspect Saifur was arrested at Chatak Kheya Ghat area of the district about 7:30 am.
Another accused Arzun Laskar was arrested at a bordering area in Madhabpur upazila of Habiganj on Sunday.
Madhabpur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Iqbal Hossain said Detective Branch of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) arrested Arzun in the early hours on the day.
Meanwhile, accused Rabiul Islam was held by the Detective Branch of Police in Habiganj’s Nabiganj upazila and Mahbubur Rahman alias Rony was arrested by RAB from Shaistaganj in Habiganj on Sunday night.
A newly-wed woman was gang-raped allegedly by a group of activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League, at Murari Chand College in Sylhet on Friday evening.
The victim’s husband was kept confined in the male students hostel of the college during the incident.
Police being informed, rescued the woman and her husband at around 10:30 pm.
Police conducted a raid in the student hostel at around 2:00 am on Saturday.
They seized a number of weapons, including a light gun and four machetes, from a room meant for college teachers but where BCL leader Saifur had been living illegally for long, the police officer said.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (media) of SMP Jyotirmay Sarker said that the victim’s husband filed a case with the Shah Paran Police Station early Saturday accusing six identified and three unnamed youths of raping his wife.
Shah Md Mahbubur Rahman Rony, 25, a masters student of the English Department of the MC College, college unit BCL leader Saifur Rahman, 28, Arzun Laskar, 25, Mahfuzur Rahman Masum, 25, Rabiul Islam, 25, and Tarekul Islam Tarek, 28, have been named accused in the case, he informed.
He said that sub-inspector Milton Nath also filed a case against Saifur Rahman in connection with recovering arms from a room of the hostel occupied by Saifur.
Meanwhile, the housewife who was gang-raped at MC hostel gave her statement to a court.
Sharmin Khanam Nila, judge of the Sylhet Metropolitan Judicial Magistrate Court (3rd), recorded her statement early Sunday afternoon.
Earlier, Shah Poran Police Station’s officer-in-charge (OC) Indranil Bhattachary, also the investigation officer of the case, took the housewife to court at about 1:30pm from the one-stop crisis centre at MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.
A group of youths tied the victim’s husband and raped the woman at the college hostel on Friday night. Police rescued them around 10:30pm.
The accused were said to be activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of ruling Awami League.
The victim’s husband filed a case at Shah Poran Police Station in the early hours of Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, several hundred students of the college took to the streets, set fire and blocked the road, demanding immediate arrest of the rapists.
The protesters alleged that the accused are activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) but they do not hold any post as there is no committee of the unit in the college.
They alleged that the authorities have kept the college hostel open when all the educational institutions across the country remained closed during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Although the authorities were aware of the criminal activities in the dormitories they didn’t close the hostels, they alleged.
The protesters also threatened to go for a tougher movement if the police fail to arrest the accused.
