Court accepts charges, hearing on July 9
A Dhaka court yesterday accepted charges against five people, including prime accused Ahmed Shafat and Nayem Ashraf, in the Banani rape case.
Judge Md Shafiul Azam of the Second Tribunal for Prevention of Women and Children Repression also fixed July 9 for hearing on the charge framing.
On June 8, Ismot Ara Ame, inspector of the Women Support and Investigation Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, pressed the charges against the five, who are now behind bars.
Of them, Shafat, Nayem, Sakif and Billal gave confessional statements before magistrates on different dates.
Shafat, and Nayem, also known as Halim, were charged with raping two university students. The three others faced charges of helping them in various ways during and after the alleged incident at a hotel in the capital on March 28 night.
The three are Shafat's driver Billal Hossain, bodyguard Rahmat Ali and Shadman Sakif, a friend of the two victims. Shafat is the son of Dildar Hossain Selim, one of the owners of Apan Jewellers.
During the one-month investigation, the investigation officer recorded statements of 47 witnesses, including hotel staffs.
Invited to Shafat's birthday party, the two girls went to the Banani hotel around 9:00pm on March 28.
They victims wanted to return home as they felt “uncomfortable” in that atmosphere, but the accused asked them to wait until the birthday cake was cut.
When the victims' male friend and the girl who went to the party with him wanted to leave the hotel after the cake was cut, Shafat and Nayem forcibly took the key of the male friend's car and physically assaulted him and kept him confined to a room with the girl, according to the charge sheet.
After midnight, Shafat raped the plaintiff while Nayem raped her friend in separate rooms, the charge sheet said.
The victims got acquainted with Shafat and Nayem at Picasso restaurant in the capital through their friend Sakif, some 10 to 15 days before the incident.
Since their first meeting, Shafat often chatted with the plaintiff on the phone. Just a few days before the incident, he repeatedly asked her to attend his birthday party with her friends, according to the charge sheet.
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