Rape allegations against Safat, Shadman true, say police after primary interrogation

Police found the allegations against Dhaka rape suspects Safat Ahmed and his friend Shadman Sakif to be true after a primary interrogation, Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Joint Commissioner Krishnapada Roy has said.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 May 2017, 09:11 AM
Updated : 12 May 2017, 09:13 AM

Police will produce the two before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka later in the day, seeking a 10-day remand, said Farida Yasmin, deputy commissioner of Victim Support Centre or VSC which is now handling the case.

The two were arrested in a house owned by one Bangladeshi expatriate at Sylhet's Pathantula neighbourhood on Thursday night, five days after the filing of the case.

DMP Deputy Commissioner (media) Masudur Rahman said a police team took Safat and Shadman to Dhaka on Friday morning.

They were primarily interrogated at the Detective Branch Headquarters in the capital.

Safat is the son of Dildar Ahmed, one of the owners of top jewellery brand Apan Jewellers, while Shadman is the son of Regnum Group owner Mohammad Hossain Jony.

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.

Krishnapada said the police would continue the manhunt for the rest of the rape suspects.

“Our investigation will go on simultaneously.”

The two girls started the case on May 6, more than a month after the alleged sexual assault at Banani's 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 on the night of 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.

Police said the suspects were arrested in a joint drive in Sylhet.

Safat, and three others went to Regent Park Resort in Sylhet 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.

Police said they were aware of Safat trying to rent a room at the resort.

Police have formed a committee to help out VSC in investigating the case, Krishnapada told media on Friday.

He said the physical evidence, forensic, digital forensic and medical forensic evidence have been collected as part of the investigation.