Banani double rape case next hearing on Oct 8

Statements of the complainant of the Banani double rape case was not recorded as judge Shafiul Azam was on leave yesterday.

Judge (in charge) Jayasri Samaddar of the Second Tribunal for Prevention of Women & Children Repression fixed October 8 for the next hearing of the case.

The complainant was present in the court yesterday to give her statement while all the five accused were also produced before it, court sources said.

The alleged rapists are Ahmed Shafat and Nayem Ashraf, Shafat's driver Billal Hossain, bodyguard Rahmat Ali, and Shadman Sakif, who had introduced the girls to the accused.

Shafat is the son of Dildar Hossain Selim, one of the owners of Apan Jewellers.

Earlier the tribunal framed charges against all the five accused.

On June 8, Inspector Ismot Ara Ame of Women Support and Investigation Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, also the investigating officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet.

Invited to Shafat's birthday party on March 28, the two girls went to the hotel 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 with Banani Police Station on May 6.

Billal filmed the rape, Rahmat intimidated the girls while Sakif refrained the hotel authorities from informing police of the incident, she alleged, adding that all the five accused were “drunk”.