Gang-rape at MC College hostel: Main accused Saifur arrested
Saifur Rahman, the prime accused in the gang rape of a woman while her husband was held hostage at MC College (Murari Chand College) hostel in Tilagarh of Sylhet on Friday night, has been arrested.
He was arrested from Chhatak in Sunamganj, superintendent of Sunamganj police Mizanur Rahman told Prothom Alo on Sunday morning.
Seven teams of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) were seeking to arrest the nine accused, including six Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) men, named in a case filed by the rape victim’s husband with Shah Paran police station on Saturday morning.
The law enforcement agency said they were alert so that the accused cannot flee across the border into India.
Saifur Rahman has also been made accused in an arms case as police recovered firearms and other local weapons while raiding a room of the MC College hostel. The room is known as the ‘BCL men’s room’. The 20-year old woman was raped in front of that room.
Earlier on Sunday morning, SMP spokesperson and additional deputy commissioner Jyotirmoy Sarker told Prothom Alo that that law enforcement agency launched a drive to nab detain the accused immediately after the incident. The police action stepped after the case was filed, he added.
A Sylhet district police source said the law enforcement agency members were directed to keep a watch along the Bangladesh-India border in Kanaighat, Habiganj and Sunamganj.
Around six or seven activists of BCL allegedly grabbed the 20-year-old woman while she was with her husband in a car and gang-raped her, holding her husband hostage at a college hostel in Tilagarh area of Sylhet on Friday night.
The gruesome incident took place in front of Block 7 of an MC College hostel room that the BCL men occupied since 2012. The hostel was supposed to remain shut amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The couple had been on an outing in the college area.
Six of the accused are -- Saifur Rahman, 28, Tarequl Islam, 28, Shah Mahbubur Rahman alias Rony, 25, Arjun Laskar, 25, Rabiul Islam, 25, and Mahfuzur Rahman alias Masum, 25.
According to the case statement, permanent address of Saifur Rahman is from Balaganj, Sylhet. His current address is MC College hostel’s supervisor’s bungalow. Shah Mahbubur Rahman alias Rony is from Bagunipara of Habiganj sadar, Mahfuzur Rahman alias Masum is from Gachhbari in Kanaighat of Sylhet, Rabiul is from Jagdal village in Dirai of Sunamganj, Arjun Laskar is from Atgram of Jockeyganj while Tareq is from Nisarga residential area of Sunamganj town.
The rape victim is currently under treatment at the OCC (One-Stop Crisis Centre) of MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, Sylhet.
College sources said Saifur, Rony and Mahfuzur are irregular students of English department of the college while Arjun is a former student. Tareq and Rabiul are outsiders. Among them, Rabiul and Mahfuzur claimed themelves as innocent in their Facebook posts.
Wishing anonymity, several students said there are many allegations against the accused BCL men.