Rape, robbery on moving bus: 6 accused on 3-day remand

A Tangail court has granted remand for three days to six of the 10 accused in connection with the rape, robbery of a moving bus in Tangail.

The remaining four who were arrested, in connection with the robbery and gang-rape in Eagle Paribahan bus traveling from Kushtia, gave a confessional statement in court on Tuesday (9 August).

Tangail Senior Judicial Magistrate Court Judge Farzana Hasnat granted the remand to the six accused this afternoon.

Among those arrested, Aslam Talukder, 19, Rasel Talukder, 25, Naeem Sarkar, 19, and Alauddin, 24, agreed to give a statement in court this afternoon. They were taken to Tangail Chief Judicial Magistrate Court.

"Senior Judicial Magistrates Farzana Hasanat, Badal Kumar Chand, and Mahbubur Rahman recorded the confessional statements," Tangail court inspector Tanvir Ahmed told The Business Standard.

"Later, they were ordered to be sent to jail," he added.

During interrogation, they came clean about the incident of rape saying that the female passenger was raped twice by Raja Mia and each of the four others, Ratan, Awal, Nurnabi and Mannan raped her at least once.

So far, seven members of the gang admitted their guilt and gave a statement in court.

Earlier on Sunday (7 August), the RAB arrested 10 people in connection with this case. 

Members of the elite force nabbed them including the mastermind of the heist Ratan Hossain conducting raids in different areas of Dhaka, Gazipur and Sirajganj, RAB's Legal and Media Wing Senior Assistant Director ANM Imran Khan told the media on Sunday (7 August). 

The arrestees are Ratan Hossain, 21, Md Alauddin, 24; Md Sohag Mandal, 20; Khandkar Md Hasmat Ali Dipu, 23; Md Babu Hossain Julhas, 21; Md Jiban, 21; Md Abdul Mannan, 22; Md Naeem Sarkar, 19; Rasel Talukder, 32; and Md Aslam Talukder Raihan, 18.

The bus of "Eagle Paribahan," with 24-25 passengers on board, was on its way to Chattogram from Kushtia late on Tuesday night when the crime occurred.

A group of robbers boarded the bus around 11pm on Tuesday after it resumed its journey following a stopover at a hotel in Sirajganj district. 

Some 5-10 minutes later, four more got into the bus, police said.

"Around 12am on Wednesday when the bus took the busy Dhaka-Tangail Highway in the Natiapara area, the robbers whiffed out guns, hijacked the vehicle and forced the driver to drive towards Madhupur upazila," the SP said.

On a desolate stretch, the armed gang robbed the commuters of cash, jewellery and mobile phones.

"The robbers then blindfolded the passengers and raped the woman commuter on board," the SP said.

The ordeal continued for over three hours till the seven criminals forced them to get off the bus and drove the heavy vehicle towards Raktipara's Jam-e-Mosque, where they abandoned it and fled with the loot, police said.

"The victim woman is being treated at Tangail General Hospital, and her initial medical test showed evidence of rape," the police official added.