Police arrest suspects Safat, Shadman Sakif over Dhaka hotel rape

Safat Ahmed and Shadman Sakif, accused of raping two university students in a hotel in Dhaka's Banani, have been arrested.

Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque told bdnews24.com on Thursday evening that the duo had been arrested in Sylhet.

Safat, 26, is a son of Dildar Ahmed, an owner of Apan Jewellers, while 24-year old Sakif's father Mohammad Hossain Jony is a co-owner of Picasso Restaurant.

The three other suspects - Nayem Ashraf, 30, and Safat's driver Billal, 26, and bodyguard, who was not named in the case - are still at large.

The two girls started the case on May 6, over a month after the alleged assault at Banani's The Raintree hotel.

They said they did not file the case earlier because the accused threatened them with dire consequences, including death.

The girls accused Safat and Nayem of confining them to a room and raping them overnight on Mar 28, according to case details.

The two raped the girls at gunpoint while the three others helped them and filmed the incident, the girls said in the case.

One of the girls told bdnews24.com that both Safat and Nayem were getting high on yaba party drug every now and then as they ravished her and her friend.

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

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

IGP Shahidul said Safat and Sakif were being brought to Dhaka from Sylhet.

Sylhet's Additional Superintendent of Police Sugyan Chakma said the duo were arrested in a joint drive in Pathantula.

Safat, and three others went to Regent Park Resort in Sylhet's South Surma on Monday, said the resort's Manager Mobarak Hossain.

"They came on a microbus to rent a room, but we didn't give them any because they could not show any ID card. They returned later," Mobarak told bdnews24.com.

"We couldn't recognise them immediately, but we later understood that one of them was Safat," he said.

Sugyan said police were also aware of Safat trying to rent a room at the resort.

"We had information that they had come to Sylhet. We were looking for them," he said.

He added that a police team left Sylhet for Dhaka with the two arrested suspects.