Rape in Banani: Culprits not held yet

Police could not arrest any of the five accused in a case filed over raping two university students in a posh hotel in the capital's Banani.

Physicians at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) yesterday collected samples for DNA tests and conducted radiology and microbiology tests on the victims for evidence of rape.

Sohel Mahmud, head of forensic medicine at DMC, who headed a five member medical board that examined the girls, however, said it would be difficult to find evidence of rape if the incidents took place over a month ago.

He added that formal report of the tests would be prepared in about 25 days.

Rafiqul Islam, assistant commissioner (Gulshan) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police said teams of police were conducting drives to catch the alleged rapists and their aides. 

Two young men allegedly raped the girls more than a month ago in a hotel while three others assisted them. One of the victims filed a case with Banani Police Station on Saturday night.

Two young men Ahmed Shafat and Nayem Ashraf were accused of raping while Shafat's driver Billal, an unnamed bodyguard, and another young man Sadman Shafiq were accused of assisting Shafat and Nayem.

A state minister in his Facebook page on Saturday night urged people, who knew the alleged perpetrators, to publish their pictures. 

The plaintiff told The Daily Star that Billal filmed as she was being raped while the body guard was present there. The perpetrators had been threatening to upload the clip on the internet in the past few weeks.

The victims had been kept at the Victim Support Centre of DMP since Saturday night.  Police took them to DMCH in the afternoon and brought them back after they were examined.

The victim, who lodged the case, alleged that Banani police dilly-dallied while filing the case because the accused were from rich families and that there could be an underhand dealing. The allegation was denied by police.

In the case, the plaintiff alleged she and the other girl got acquainted with the two culprits through one of their friends Sadman Shafiq early March.

Invited to a birthday party, she along with her friend went to the hotel around 8:30pm on March 28. “They confined us to two rooms at gunpoint after the rooftop party ended around midnight,” she said, adding that one of them raped her twice.