Dhaka hotel rape suspect Nayem Ashraf arrested

Police have arrested Nayem Ashraf, accused of raping two university students in a hotel in Dhaka's Banani.

Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque told bdnews24.com that Nayem was arrested in Munshiganj's Louhajong on Wednesday.

The IGP said a team from Police Headquarters arrested Nayem around 8:45pm.

"He is being brought to Dhaka," he said.

Locals at Kazipur in Sirajganj identified Nayem as Hasan Mohammad Halim. He committed many wrongdoings by claiming influential people to be his father at different times, they said.

He is the fifth suspect arrested in the case. The four others are Shafat Ahmed, the son of an owner of Apan Jewellers, Shafat's friend Shadman Sakif, the son of Regnum Group co-owner Mohammad Hossain Jony, and Shafat's driver 'Billal' and bodyguard Rahmat Ali.

The celebrities and politicians whose pictures with Nayem aka Halim have taken the social media by storm have already demanded his punishment.

The youth had introduced himself as Nayem Ashraf in different circles in Dhaka and took photos with politicians, senior police officers, sons of ministers, MPs, athletes, and people from the entertainment world.

He had also worked at a number of television channels in Dhaka.

He started an event management firm 'E-Makers' which organised Indian singer Arijit Singh's concert in Dhaka in 2014 and concert of another Indian singer Neha Kakkar in Dhaka last year.

Shafat and Shadman were arrested in Sylhet on May 11, and four days later, Shafat's driver and bodyguard were detained in Dhaka.

Now Nayem is arrested 11 days after the case was started. The alleged rape incident occurred at Banani's The Raintree hotel on Mar 28.

The plaintiff said Shafat and Nayem raped her and her friend at gun point while the three others filmed the incident. She said she could not file the case earlier because the accused threatened the girls with dangers like death.