University student narrates Dhaka’s Raintree hotel ‘rape’

One of the raped university students has claimed that the Apan Jewellers owner’s son Safat Ahmed pestered her and her friend to join his birthday party and it was with reluctance that they went to the Banani hotel.

Staff CorrespondentGolam Mujtaba Dhrubabdnews24.com
Published : 9 May 2017, 04:33 PM
Updated : 9 May 2017, 05:45 PM

The victim shared with bdnews24.com the ‘tales of torture’ that she claims to have endured with another university friend at the Raintree Dhaka hotel on Mar 28 that has kicked up a storm after a case was started last Saturday.

According to her, Safat, 26, and his friend Nayem Ashraf, 30, both were getting high on yaba party drug every now and then as they raped her and her friend on that night.

Safat’s former wife Faria Mahbub Piasa, a contestant of the NTV’s reality show ‘Super Hero Super Heroine,’ also claims that Safat was an addict.

Safat's house at Gulshan-2

The two tied the knot in 2015 and got divorced on Mar 8 this year, 20 days before the alleged incident of sexual assault.

The victim said she got to know Safat through her friend Shadman Sakif, 24, at a party in a Gulshan hotel on Mar 7.

Safat’s former wife Piasa was also present there, she said.

“Safat was yelling at his wife, spewing outrageously lewd words. We were disgusted at his behaviour. He saved his number on our mobile phones and sent us friend requests on Facebook the same day.”

“This is how we were introduced. I met him twice at Gulshan’s Picasso Restaurant afterwards. When he tried to get closer, I told him that I was engaged. He used to say that he was also involved with someone and that he did not like his wife,” she continued.

Safat, son of one of the owners of Apan Jewellers, Dildar Ahmed, is the prime suspect in the case.

Besides Safat and Nayem, Sakif, son of one of the owners of Picasso Restaurant Mohammad Hossain Jony, is another accused.

Safat’s bodyguard and chauffeur have been named for aiding the perpetrators carry out the crime and filming the incident.

No arrests have been made over the case started with Banani Police on Saturday. All of the accused are fleeing from justice.

“That day (Mar 28), he (Safat) was relentlessly calling us to join his birthday party, saying he won’t cut the cake if we two didn’t join in. After we arrived there with two other friends, we saw Safat, Nayem, Sakif and two girls there. A man brought cake for Safat introducing himself as the owner of the hotel,” said the student, who initiated the case.

“Safat and Nayem said they had been on yaba for the last three days,” she added.

Screenshots of conversations between the victim and Shadman Sakif.

According to the case dossier, the four – the two victims and their friends – wanted to leave the hotel as they did not like the environment but Safat and Nayem took their car key away and dragged the victims inside a room on the ground floor of the hotel.

They ravaged them throughout the night and finally released them at 10am the next day.

“We screamed. Begged to Safat and Nayem to let us go but we were not spared,” the victim, a university student, told bdnews24.com.

“While raping us, they were going to the toilet to have Yaba. They were assaulting us, calling us names.”

“Safat said he owned gold business and that they won’t be in any trouble even if they had killed us.”

The bodyguard videotaped the whole incident, she added.

“A car came in the morning. My friend could barely walk. We were crying like anything.”

“Our two other friends were held captive inside another room. Safat and Nayem assaulted them as well before and after raping us.”

“They wanted us to remain as their mistresses for the rest of our lives. Or else, they said they would release the video on Facebook. At this point we could not keep quiet anymore.”

She said she, Safat, Nayem, and Sakif later met at Picasso Restaurant later where two ‘elder brothers’ tried to settle the matter.

“They were indifferent, as if nothing had happened. They said they could not control themselves as they were on yaba,” said the plaintiff.

Safat’s father Dildar claims the ‘act of sex’, if any, was consensual, a claim that the plaintiff has rejected.

Sakif's father Jony is the managing director of Regman Group to which Picasso Restaurant is a tenant.

Faria Mahbub Piasa and Safat Ahmed

The girl claimed she knew Sakif for two years.

“I used to trust him (Sadman) a lot and shared thoughts with him as a friend. I went to Safat’s birthday party only for his sake,” she said.

“But I guess they pre-planned the whole thing.”

Piasa told bdnews24.com that she believed whatever the plaintiff has said.

“Safat used to speak ill of me to draw attention of other girls.”

Safat’s father claimed that Piasa was behind all these to trap his son.

“It is a false case. She (Piasa) even accompanied the two girls to the police station to lodge the case,” he said.

Piasa denies the allegation.