Banani Rape: Court asks for probe report by June 19

A Dhaka court yesterday asked the investigation officer of the Banani rape case to submit the probe report on June 19.

Metropolitan Magistrate Delwar Hossain gave the order after Inspector Ismot Ara Ame, the investigation officer of the case, failed to submit the report yesterday.

Meanwhile, investigators are yet to get the results of forensic tests on the five mobile phones of the accused and a dress of a victim of the alleged rapes from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

One of the victims handed over the dress she was wearing on March 28 to Banani Police Station in the hope that forensic experts would find traces of DNA helping her get justice.

“We are trying to complete the investigation and will submit our report after receiving the test results,” said a Dhaka Metropolitan Police official.

The alleged double rape in The Raintree Dhaka hotel on March 28, which was reported over a month afterwards, sparked widespread protests on the streets and on social media amid allegations of negligence in dealing with the case by Banani police.

All the five accused have been arrested and are now in jail.

Of them, Ahmed Shafat, son of Dildar Ahmed Selim, one of the owners of Apan Jewellers' and his friend Nayem Ashraf alias Halim confessed to raping two university students.

The victims' friend Shadman Sakif, who introduced them to Shafat, also admitted his involvement in the rapes.

Shafat's driver Billal Hossain confessed that he filmed one of the victims' male friends being forced by Shafat and Nayem to pose with yaba tablets.

Invited to Shafat's birthday party on March 28, the two girls went to the hotel around 9:00pm. After the party ended around midnight, Shafat and Nayem raped them in two rooms, one of the victims said in a case she filed with Banani Police Station on May 6.

Police collected Nayem's DNA samples to see whether it matched with DNA samples found on the dress of one of the victims.

As the victims claim that they were filmed when being raped, police have been trying to retrieve the video clips from the five mobile phones of the accused.

Source: thedailystar