Two students of DU and JnU arrested on charges of mugging by threatening rape

Police have arrested two students of Dhaka University (DU) and Jagannath University (JnU) for allegedly mugging a youth at the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan by threatening to rape his female friend.

Rajib Baroi studies at DU and Amit Kumar Das at JnU, police said.
 
Both of them are activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of the ruling Awami League, several police officials, asking not be named, told bdnews24.com.
 
Shahbagh police OC Abu Bakar Siddique on Monday night told bdnews24.com the duo was arrested in the evening near TSC on DU campus after the victim himself identified them and called the law-enforcers.
 
He said they were trying to nab the others involved in the mugging that took place two weeks ago.
 
Rajib at Shahbagh Police Station also admitted that he was an activist of the Chhatra League.
 
Ansar Ali Limon, who was mugged on Aug 16, had provided police with the information based on which the arrests were made on Monday evening.
 
Around 9:30pm, the bdnews24.com correspondent found a handcuffed Rajib standing in the OC’s room at Shahbagh Police Station.
 
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Ramna Division Additional Deputy Commissioner Md Ibrahim Khan was sitting in the OC’s chair at the time.
 
Responding to queries, Rajib identified himself to the reporters as a leader of the DU’s Jagannath Hall BCL unit and claimed he was innocent.
 
A police officer who was present there laughed and said, “After we arrested them, Amit also had claimed that he was innocent.

“But he shut his mouth after we told him that his wrist watch, a ring on his finger and sandals were the same as those seen in a video footage.”
 
After snatching Limon’s mobile phones, wallet and debit cards, the muggers withdrew Tk 50,000 from the Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited ATM booth at the TSC.

Limon on Monday told bdnews24.com he had asked the bank for the CCTV footage of the time when he was being mugged on Aug 16. “Then the footage was handed to police.”

He had also provided police with information regarding transfer of Tk 2,000 from his phone number to another number.
 
“I have come to TSC every day since that day with the hope to find those muggers. And I did find two of them this evening (Monday) sitting on a rickshaw near TSC. I called Shahbagh police right away,” Limon said.
 
OC Abu Bakar Siddique said based on the video footage, they were certain that Rajib and Amit were involved in the mugging.

Limon said he and his female friend were on way to Shilpakala Academy around 8pm on Aug 16 through Suhrawardy Udyan when several muggers wielding machetes attacked them.
 
They first took the cash, mobile phones and the debit cards from Limon and his friend, according to details of the case the theatre activist lodged the next day.
 
Limon told bdnews24.com the muggers then demanded his debit card’s PIN code. “I gave up the PIN code when they threatened to rape my friend.”
 
He said the muggers let him and his friend go after two of them went to the DBBL ATM booth at the TSC and withdrew Tk 50,000.
 
Ramna Division Additional DC Md Ibrahim Khan told reporters they were giving the incident much importance.
 
He claimed that police raided Suhrawardy Udyan at least 10 times since the night of the incident to catch the perpetrators.