Accused bragged police can't touch them

The two university students repeatedly begged the rapists to let them go. At one stage, the girls warned that they would go to police, but the men bragged about their money and influence and said police would not touch them.

“If I give money to police, they will not do anything,” one of the girls quoted her alleged rapist Ahmed Shafat as saying.

Shafat, the prime accused in a case filed over the rape of the two girls, was angry at this and raped her twice while his friend Nayem Ashraf forced the other girl into another room of the Banani hotel and raped her.

“They were drunk and kept threatening to kill us and upload the video [of the rape] on the internet if we went to police,” the victim told The Daily Star yesterday recalling the March 28 incident. 

Invited to Shafat's birthday party, she along with the other victim went to the hotel around 9:00pm. Two of the victims' friends and two other girls were also present at the party.

The alleged rapists first started to hit them and slapped their "two friends, who were there and made them leave". The girls were lead to a room at gunpoint and forced to drink. Their phones were already taken away.

Shafat phoned her 18 times the next day but she did not answer. The victims' friend Shadman Sakif, who introduced them to the alleged rapists early in March, contacted her three days after the incident on Viber and asked her to keep silent, she said.

 The girl further quoted the alleged rapist as saying, "Don't think we are sparing you. You will meet us whenever we want, or else we will make sure the video go viral."

The girls kept mum for over 41 days.

They finally went to Banani Police Station to file a case on Thursday afternoon. After a great deal of dilly-dallying, Banani police recorded the case against five youths including Shafat and Nayem Saturday night.

Besides Shafat, Nayem and Shadman Sakif, Shafat's driver Billal, who allegedly filmed the incident and his unnamed bodyguard, who was present at the scene, were accused in the case.

Meanwhile, police said they raided houses of the five accused and their relatives.

“We have written to immigration police to ensure that the accused do not flee,” said Abdul Matin, inspector (investigation) of Banani Police Station.

Sheikh Najmul Alam, deputy commissioner (north) of the Detective Branch of police, said the case was “sensational” and was of priority.

Shafat's father Dilder Ahmed Selim told this correspondent that teams of police kept visiting his house. "My son is a victim of blackmail. But if he did the crime he should be punished."

In another development, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque, in a statement, termed the incident a gross violation of human rights.

The commission yesterday formed a five-member fact-finding committee to identify the criminals and ensure punishment. The committee was asked to submit its report within 15 working days.