Staff Reporter :
Authorities of the Raintree Hotel skipped most of the queries placed by reporters at a press conference over the rape of two university students on March 28 night.
Amid public outrage over allegations of siding with the accused rapists and trying to cover up the incident, authorities of the hotel located in city’s Banani area organised the press conference in its conference room on Tuesday to clarify its stance over the issue.
They have tried again and again to conceal the genuine information to the reporters at the briefing.
The questions from newsmen were skipped by the hotel authorities, rather they advised them to go through its press release to be supplied on behalf of them.
They, however, sought justice for the accused rapists based on proper investigation.
In the day of the incident, Shafat rented two ‘sweet’ rooms (room no: 700 and 701) of the hotel and the hotel’s General Manager Frank Fargat was present till 11:00pm, said HM Adnan Harun, Managing Director of the hotel, adding that till then no unwanted situation they have noticed.
If anything happened in the hotel rooms, authorities could not get to know as the hotel rooms were soundproofed, he also said, adding “We cannot say anything more as law enforces are investigating into the incident.
According to the culture of the hotel it offers birthday cake if its client is present here during his/her birthday, he replied when journalists asked the question-whether a complimentary birthday cake was sent to Shafat from one of the directors of the hotel.
“The case is now being investigated and it will be proved,” he added.
Reza Golam Mostafa, General Manager of Raintree Hotel’s financier company Humaira Group, read out a written statement. They did not entertain any question asked by reporters.
“The rape victims did not bring any allegation of harassment that night,” said Golam Mostafa in the statement.
Regarding deleting the CCTV camera footage, Golam Mostafa said: “We follow an international rule… deleting any footage that is over 30 days old,” he said.
Meanwhile, internet users have voted down the hotel that opened in April. After the incident, the online rating of The Raintree Dhaka stood at 1.1 out of 5, which was 4.6 before, sources said.
On the night of March 28, two university students were allegedly raped in the hotel rooms by Shafat Ahmed, son of the owner of Apan Jewellers, and his cohorts. One of the rape victims filed a case with Banani Police Station on May 6 accusing five people. Of the accused, Shafat Ahmed and Nayeem Ashraf were sued for raping the two female university students while Shadman Sakif, Shafat’s driver Billal, and his bodyguard Rahmat for abetting in the crime.
