A woman has allegedly been gang-raped by three men after going to Cox’s Bazar on a trip with her husband and their eight-month-old child.
Informed of the incident, law enforcers rescued her from a hotel called Zia Guest Inn at around 2am on Thursday, said RAB 15 chief Major Mehedi Hasan.
He added that the force had detained the manager of the inn, Riaz Uddin Choton, for questioning at 10 in the morning.
Two of the alleged rapists, Ariful Islam Ashique and Abdur Rahman Joy, have been identified from CCTV footage at the hotel.
Quoting the woman, Mehedi Hasan said the family went to Laboni Beach on Tuesday afternoon where the husband and a stranger got into an altercation after bumping into one another.
Then in the evening, some men picked up the husband and the child in an autorickshaw. Meanwhile, three others took the woman to a secluded place and raped her, threatening her that they would kill her husband and their child.
Later, they took her to the hotel and raped her in turn once again. The three men then threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the rape and locked the door from outside before leaving the place.
Ashique had rented the room, posing as the husband of the rape survivor.
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The authorities sent the rape survivor to the one-stop crisis centre of Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, Cox’s Bazar Sadar police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Bipul Chandra Dey said a complaint was yet to be filed in connection with the rape. “Ashique and Joy both are listed as local muggers. We are trying to nab them,” he added.
According to locals and police sources, Ashique runs a gang of 32 youths who commit mugging in groups. He had been in jail in another case and came out on bail recently.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Zia Guest Inn staff Habibur Rahman said that the room was rented under a false address.
He claimed that the woman had left the hotel as well. Later RAB came with her and seized CCTV footage and documents, when the hotel authority came to know about the rape incident.
Cox’s Bazar Hotel-Motel Owners’ Association General Secretary Md Abul Kasem Sikder said if the rape incident was true, it would be a bad example for tourism.
Locals alleged that in the evening, there was no security team deployed, starting from Laboni to Diabetes Point.
Additional Superintendent of Tourist Police Md Muhiuddin Ahmed said patrol teams operated in the area.