Prime accused, four others arrested in Cumilla rape case

The police have arrested five individuals in connection with the alleged rape of a 25-year-old woman after breaking into her home in a village in Muradnagar upazila of Cumilla.

Nazir Ahmed Khan, superintendent of police (SP) of Cumilla, confirmed the arrests this morning, saying all the arrestees are from Muradnagar upazila.

The prime accused – Fazor Ali – was arrested from the Sayedabad area in Dhaka around 5:00 am today, Sunday. The other arrestees are Md Sumon, Ramzan Ali, Md Arif, and Md Anik. They are accused of spreading a video of the rape incident.

According to the woman, she had come to her parents' home with her children around 15 days ago. On Thursday night, a man named Fazor Ali (38) came to the house and asked her to open the door around 10:00 pm. As she refused, he broke down the door and raped her.

A neighbour said he called in the villagers after hearing loud noise from the residence on Thursday night. “Being frightened, I called in the people, who found the door broken. Later, we rescued the victim.”

A local resident, requesting anonymity, said the locals caught Fazor Ali at the scene and thrashed him there. He was later taken to a hospital in Cumilla town. However, he managed to flee the hospital at one point.

A video of the incident has since circulated on Facebook, drawing widespread criticism and concern.

Zahidur Rhaman, the officer-in-charge of the Muradnagar Police Station, told Prothom Alo that the victim initially refrained from reporting the incident to the police. As the video clip spread online, the police came to know about the incident, and the victim filed a case in this regard.

A medical test of the victim has already been completed, added the OC.