Primary evidence of Banani rape found: Cops

A day into the arrest of two rape accused - Ahmed Shafat and Shadman Sakif, police today claimed to have found primary evidence of the rape of two university students at an upscale hotel in Banani area of Dhaka.

“We have found evidence of rape based on the primary interrogation of the two accused [Shafat and Sakif] and other information,” Krishna Pada Roy, joint commissioner (crime) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told reporters at a press briefing at DMP media centre.

He hoped that the evidence could lead the case filed over the rape incident to a logical stage.

Police will seek a 10-day remand after producing them before a Dhaka court later in the day, he added.

Earlier in the morning, law enforcers brought Shafat and Sakif, who are among the five accused of raping the two university girls, to Dhaka after arresting them in Sylhet last night.

Two probe bodies formed

Meanwhile, DMP has formed two separate probe bodies over the incident.

A four-member committee, led by its joint commissioner, will assist the proper investigation while the other three-member body, led by additional commissioner (crime), will scrutinise the allegations of negligence against Banani police over filing of the case, said Krishna Pada.

A police team from Dhaka conducted a raid at a house "Rashid Manzil" in Pathantola area of Sylhet city around 9:00pm yesterday to arrest the two accused, said Zedan Al Musa, additional deputy commissioner (media) of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP).

Earlier on Saturday, one of the rape victims filed the case with Banani Police Station accusing five people including Shafat and Sakif.

Of them, Shafat and Nayem Ashraf allegedly raped the girls in a hotel while three others assisted them.

Shafat's driver Billal, an unnamed bodyguard, and Sadman Sakif were accused of assisting Shafat and Nayem.

Meanwhile, Customs intelligence today formed a committee to investigate the sources of wealth of Dilder Ahmed Selim, owner of Apon Jewellers and father of accused Shafat, said Moinul Khan, director general of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) under the National Board of Revenue, told The Daily Star.

 “We have already issued a letter to the Bangladesh Bank seeking information of the bank accounts of Dilder Ahmed and his son,” he added.

“It was learnt that Dilder Ahmed earned huge amount of money through gold business, but in the last five years, no gold was imported into the country through proper channel. So, we want to know how could he make the money and property,” said the customs officer.

Source: thedailystar