Noakhali rape: 2 accused give confessional statements

Two accused of Noakhali’s Subarnachar rape incident today gave confessional statement before a magistrate.

Judge of Cognisence Court-2 Nobonita Guha recorded the confessional statements of Salahuddin and Abul under section 164 this afternoon, our Noakhali correspondent reports quoting the IO of the case Md Jakir Hossain.

A team of the district detective branch arrested Salahuddin, the ninth accused in the rape case, from Sultanpur area in Feni Sadar yesterday morning. With Salahuddin, eight people including Abul have so far been arrested in the case filed by the husband of the 35-year-old victim.

WHAT HAPPENED ON DEC 31?

The 35-year-old woman was gang-raped in Subarnachar area in the early hours of December 31, allegedly by 10 to 12 AL activists.

According to the victim, the men entered her home by cutting the fence around her house. They then tied her husband and four children with ropes, after which they took the woman outside the house and raped her.

The victim also said the rapists threatened to kill her husband and children and torch their house if she told anyone about the rape.

The victim's husband, who was also injured, said the criminals left around 4:00am after beating his wife unconscious and taking Tk 40,000, some gold ornaments and other valuables with them.

The husband said the victim went to cast her vote around 11:00am on Sunday.

During that time, Ruhul allegedly insisted that she vote for the “boat”. He allegedly tried to snatch the ballot paper as she said she would vote for the “sheaf of paddy”. But the victim put the paper inside the box.

This made Ruhul furious and he threatened her, he said.

Talking to The Daily Star, the victim's brother-in-law said the woman had threatened him back.

After the rape incident, the victim's husband filed a case against nine people.