Prime accused Shafat, his friend Sadman detained in Sylhet

Two accused in the much-talked-about Banani rape case, Shafat Ahmed and his friend Sadman Sakif, were detained in Sylhet on Thursday evening.

Police’s assistant inspector general (confidential) Md. Moniruzzaman told the Prothom Alo that a special team of police headquarters detained them from a house in Jalalabad of Sylhet.   

He said the accused are being taken to Dhaka.

Two female students of a private university were violated at Banani hotel named ‘The Raintree’ on 28 March after they were invited there to attend a birthday celebration programme, according to the rape victims as said in the case statement.

The victims filed the case on 6 May with the Banani police station after their 48-hour toilsome effort as the police allegedly declined to accept the case in the first place.

The five accused in the case are: Shafat Ahmed, his bodyguard Abul Kalam Azad, his driver Billal, Shafat’s friend Naeem Ashraf, and Sadman Sakif.

Besides, the victims gave their judicial statements before a Dhaka court earlier in the day.

Metropolitan magistrate Nurun Nahar Yasmin recorded statements of the victims under section of 22 of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.

Earlier, Ismat Ara Amy, sub-inspector of the Women Support and Investigation Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and the investigation officer of the case, produced the two girls before the court.

In their depositions, the victims narrated how they were raped in the posh hotel at Banani.

Meanwhile, another court granted police to conduct laboratory test on the dress of one of the victims wearing at the time of rape.

Metropolitan Magistrate Delwar Hossain gave the permission following a petition filed by Inspector (Investigation) of Banani Police Station Abdul Matin on Wednesday.

Source: Prothom Alo