Rape of Univ Student: One accused confesses to raping her

One of the accused in the case over rape of a private university student yesterday confessed to a Dhaka court that he had raped the victim at her friend's house in the city's Mohammadpur area.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Satyabrata Sikder recorded the confessional statement of accused Mortuza Raihan Chowdhury after Investigation Officer Sajedul Haque, also a sub-inspector of Mohammadpur Police Station, produced him before the court, said court sources.

The magistrate later sent Mortuza, 21, to jail.

The victim died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the city on Sunday, a day after her father filed the rape case with Mohammadpur Police Station accusing five of her fellow students, including one unnamed.

Police later came to know that another accused Arafat also died at a city hospital on January 30. They suspected that he died from excessive alcohol consumption.

Meanwhile, another Dhaka court yesterday placed accused Farzana Jaman Neha on five-day remand, said court sources.

The 25-year-old woman was arrested in the capital's Azimpur on Thursday night, said Abdul Latif, officer-in-charge of Mohammadpur Police Station.

He said police seized some medical documents and a mobile phone from Farzana.

Earlier on January 31, a Dhaka court had placed Mortuza and another accused Nuhat Alam Tafsir, 21, on five-day remand each in the case.

Police said they identified the unnamed accused and were trying to arrest that person.

According to police, Farzana, along with her friends, went to a restaurant in Uttara on the night of January 28 and consumed alcohol. She fell sick and left the restaurant with another friend.

Investigators said two of the friends later visited another hotel in Gulshan where they took alcohol again.

Police suspect that consumption of excessive liquor might have caused the death of the 21-year-old female university student.

However, the victim's father alleged that Mortuza and Arafat took his daughter to a restaurant in Uttara on January 28. She fell sick as they forced her to consume excessive alcohol. Later, she was taken to a flat in Mohammadpur where Mortuza raped her, the father added.