Five arrested over alleged gang-rape of housewife at abandoned house of ex-minister's relative' in Cumilla
Naznin said the victim had been kept at the one-stop crisis centre at Comilla Medical College Hospital
A woman has allegedly been gang-raped at an abandoned house of ex-minister Md Tazul Islam's brother-in-law in Cumilla's Laksam upazila while she was returning home with her husband.
The 19-year-old victim's mother filed a case on Saturday, following which the police launched an operation and apprehended all five accused on Sunday.
Laksam Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Naznin Sultana confirmed the arrests, stating that the suspects were produced before the court on Monday morning.
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The five arrestees are Mohammad Ali, 25; Md Masud, 23; Monir Hossain Hridoy, 23; Al Amin, 23; and Bilkis Akter Kalpana, 40.
Naznin said the victim had been kept at the one-stop crisis centre at Comilla Medical College Hospital.
According to the case statement, the couple arrived at Laksam Sadar to visit the maternal grandfather of the victim's husband on Thursday.
On Friday morning, the couple attempted to return home but, failing to find a bus, boarded a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at the Laksam bypass intersection.
At one point, the CNG driver Masud questioned them about their marital status and took them to the Gandamara area in Laksam where the suspects searched their belongings, reads the case statement.
From there, the accused took the couple to the nearby Mogbari area of Lalmai upazila. They left the husband there and abducted the woman, adds the case statement.
The accused took the woman back to Laksam, in an abandoned house of Mohabbat Ali, general secretary of Laksam upazila Awami League and brother-in-law of former LGRD minister Md Tazul Islam.
On Saturday, the woman was taken to the rented house of one Bilkis Akhtar Kalpana, who was known to the accused, at ward no-8 of Laksam, where the victim was raped again.
Later that day, with the help of local residents, the woman was rescued and reunited with her family.
Inspector Anwar Hossain, the investigating officer, said they arrested the five suspects from different locations in Laksam.
The primary accused had no prior acquaintance with the victim, he said. "They took advantage of the situation after she boarded the auto-rickshaw."
