‘Cox’s Bazar female tourist raped for extortion money’
RAB arrested one of the prime accused on Sunday
Ashiqul Islam, the prime suspect in the rape of a tourist in Cox's Bazar was arrested on Sunday, December 26, 2021 Bangla Tribune
Tribune Desk
Publish : 27 Dec 2021, 04:53 PMUpdate : 27 Dec 2021, 04:53 PM
The tourist in Cox’s Bazar was raped because she and her husband “refused to give in to extortion and pay money,” the Rapid Action Battalion said quoting prime suspect Ashiqul Islam.
Ashiqul, who has been accused in 12 cases including rape and extorting money out of tourists, had gone into hiding after his name came forward in the incident, RAB spokesperson Khandaker Al Moin said during a media call on Monday.
The elite police unit arrested Ashiqul from Madaripur on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, RAB four others over the incident that shook the nation.
Rezaul Karim Sahabuddin, 25, Mehedi Hasan, 21, and Mamunur Rashid, 28, along with Ashiqul were found to be involved in the crime indirectly during the investigation.
However, two other prime accused in the case Esrafil Huda Joy and Mehedi Hasan Babu are still on the run
“Ashiqul is the ringleader of a nearly 30-member gang involved in various crimes in Cox’s Bazar,” Moin told the media.
“Tourists are their main target. They demanded Tk50,000 from that woman and her husband,” he said, adding that the survivor had met Ashiqul two days prior to the incident.
According to RAB, Ashiqul admitted to raping the woman after they refused to pay.
“However, he said he wasn’t aware of the woman being raped at a secluded place first,” said Moin, who heads the RAB’s media and legal wing.
“He left the woman with his associates and went to bring his motorcycle,” he added.
According to RAB, there are 12 cases against him for several crimes including rape, extortion, demanding money after kidnapping, mugging.
“He recently did two-and-half-years in jail in one of the cases.”
According to the senior RAB officer, Ashiqul used to rent flats in the tourist spot from owners at low cost and then rent them out to tourists at exorbitant prices.
The 22-year-old woman checked into a Cox's Bazar hotel on Tuesday with her husband and their eight-month-old baby. In the afternoon, the family went out for a stroll on the sea beach.
At Laboni point, the husband had an altercation with one of the accused - thought to be Ashiq, who has an extensive criminal record and only got out of his last stint in jail two weeks ago - after they accidentally bumped into each other.
What started as a small argument soon snowballed into a major altercation and the young man called his accomplices to the spot. Later in the day, they kidnapped the family in two auto-rickshaws and took them to a desolate place near the golf club where three of them allegedly violated the woman.
Her ordeal did not end there. The woman was taken to Zia Guest Inn, of which arrested manager Riaz Uddin was a friend of Ashiq's, and there the three accused again took turns to rape her for hours.
They released her in the early hours of Thursday and allegedly threatened to kill her family if she shared her ordeal with anyone.
On Thursday, the woman’s husband had filed the case under the Prevention of Women and Children Repression Prevention Act at Cox's Bazar Sadar Model Police Station accusing seven people.
On Friday, the court recorded the victim’s statement, said inspector Ruhul Amin, the investigation officer in the case.
The next day Riaz Uddin was arrested and remanded for four days.
‘Cox’s Bazar female tourist raped for extortion money’
The tourist in Cox’s Bazar was raped because she and her husband “refused to give in to extortion and pay money,” the Rapid Action Battalion said quoting prime suspect Ashiqul Islam.
Ashiqul, who has been accused in 12 cases including rape and extorting money out of tourists, had gone into hiding after his name came forward in the incident, RAB spokesperson Khandaker Al Moin said during a media call on Monday.
The elite police unit arrested Ashiqul from Madaripur on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, RAB four others over the incident that shook the nation.
Rezaul Karim Sahabuddin, 25, Mehedi Hasan, 21, and Mamunur Rashid, 28, along with Ashiqul were found to be involved in the crime indirectly during the investigation.
However, two other prime accused in the case Esrafil Huda Joy and Mehedi Hasan Babu are still on the run
“Ashiqul is the ringleader of a nearly 30-member gang involved in various crimes in Cox’s Bazar,” Moin told the media.
“Tourists are their main target. They demanded Tk50,000 from that woman and her husband,” he said, adding that the survivor had met Ashiqul two days prior to the incident.
According to RAB, Ashiqul admitted to raping the woman after they refused to pay.
“However, he said he wasn’t aware of the woman being raped at a secluded place first,” said Moin, who heads the RAB’s media and legal wing.
“He left the woman with his associates and went to bring his motorcycle,” he added.
According to RAB, there are 12 cases against him for several crimes including rape, extortion, demanding money after kidnapping, mugging.
“He recently did two-and-half-years in jail in one of the cases.”
According to the senior RAB officer, Ashiqul used to rent flats in the tourist spot from owners at low cost and then rent them out to tourists at exorbitant prices.
The 22-year-old woman checked into a Cox's Bazar hotel on Tuesday with her husband and their eight-month-old baby. In the afternoon, the family went out for a stroll on the sea beach.
At Laboni point, the husband had an altercation with one of the accused - thought to be Ashiq, who has an extensive criminal record and only got out of his last stint in jail two weeks ago - after they accidentally bumped into each other.
What started as a small argument soon snowballed into a major altercation and the young man called his accomplices to the spot. Later in the day, they kidnapped the family in two auto-rickshaws and took them to a desolate place near the golf club where three of them allegedly violated the woman.
Her ordeal did not end there. The woman was taken to Zia Guest Inn, of which arrested manager Riaz Uddin was a friend of Ashiq's, and there the three accused again took turns to rape her for hours.
They released her in the early hours of Thursday and allegedly threatened to kill her family if she shared her ordeal with anyone.
On Thursday, the woman’s husband had filed the case under the Prevention of Women and Children Repression Prevention Act at Cox's Bazar Sadar Model Police Station accusing seven people.
On Friday, the court recorded the victim’s statement, said inspector Ruhul Amin, the investigation officer in the case.
The next day Riaz Uddin was arrested and remanded for four days.
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