Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have arrested a man accused in a case over raping a schoolgirl at gunpoint in Pirojpur district.
The 32-year-old Shamim Hossain Mridha, of Pirojpur’s Bhandaria upazila, has been described by law enforcement agencies as a "serial rapist".
He was arrested on Thursday from Dhaka’s Uttara, RAB said.
According to the police, Shamim raped the schoolgirl at gunpoint on June 11.
Later, the girl’s mother filed a case under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act with Bhandaria police station in this regard following the crime.
Students and teachers from the victim’s school also staged a human chain seeking justice for her.
Members from the Detective Branch of RAB Headquarters and a team of RAB-8 arrested Shamim from the capital.
The arrestee has confessed his crime, saying that he raped the girl while she was returning home after exam at her school.
The accused fled the scene after the assault and hid in Dhaka to avoid arrest, according to the case.
Earlier on January 26, 2015, Shamim tried to rape an SSC examinee after breaking into her house.
He also raped a madrasa student threatening her with a chopper on November 1, 2017.
Shamim also sexually harassed another madrasa-student on October 10, 2021.
He works both as a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver and a private car driver in Dhaka’s Babubazar and Gabtoli areas.
He became a criminal at the age of 16 through consuming and trading drugs and other criminal activities, police said.
He used to hide in various places in the country including Dhaka, Kishoreganj, Barisal and Khulna after raping and harassing girls. He even used to rape girls while he was in hiding.
There are more than 10 rape and drug cases against him at various police stations across the country, including Bhandaria.
He was even in jail four or five times, according to police records.
There was also a total of six arrest warrants against him in different police stations.
RAB officials have said that a legal proceeding in underway against the arrestee.
