Banani Rape: Cops' negligence helped accused destroy evidence

The Banani rape accused were able to destroy evidence due to the negligence of police officials concerned, said a number of law enforcers and one of the two girls who were “raped at gunpoint” in a hotel on March 28.

The “culprits” could have been arrested much earlier had the police acted quickly, they said.

Their prompt arrests could have prevented them from deleting video clips from their mobile phones, said a police official, terming the evidence “crucial” as the case was filed over a month after the incident.

According to the girls, the accused filmed the rape with their mobile phones. The rapists repeatedly threatened that they would release the clip on social media and it would go viral, if the girls told anyone about the incident.

The accused also forced a male friend of the girls to hold a fist full of yaba tablets and filmed him. They threatened to brand him as a yaba trader, an accused allegedly told Rab investigators.

The girls went to the Banani Police Station for filing the case on May 4. But the police officials allegedly tried to brand them as “bad girls” instead and dilly-dallied over recording the case.

The law enforcers took two days to record the case in the name of primary investigation. Interestingly, they did not even meet any of the accused, let alone quiz or arrest them.

Talking to The Daily Star recently, two staffers of prime accused Shafat's home said Shafat was away but he was home in the morning of May 7. He stayed there for about an hour and then left in a car.

Talking to reporters on May 6, Abdul Matin, inspector (investigation) of Banani Police Station, admitted that they did not quiz any of the accused during their primary investigation.

Taking the advantage of police negligence, four of the five accused, including Shafat, fled Dhaka, said a police official, who is dealing with the case.

Shafat's driver Billal in the meantime deleted the video clips from his mobile phone, Rab said, quoting him.

On Monday, Rapid Action Battalion arrested Billal in Nawabpur area of the capital's Wari. They also recovered a mobile phone from his possession. Now, the law enforcers were trying to recover the deleted data.

Investigators suspect some of the accused had already destroyed their mobile phones used for filming the “rape”. They, however, recovered some devices and were trying to recover data.

Besides, there is also an allegation from the girls against Officer-in-Charge of Banani Police Station BM Farman Ali of taking bribe from the family of the accused.

Farman, however, denied the allegation.

Abdul Matin, the first investigation officer of the case, and his team failed to seize the CCTV server of The Raintree Dhaka hotel where the girls were “raped”, said a police officer.

The hotel authorities said the server wrote over data older than a month.

Another police officer, preferring anonymity, said it was the prime responsibility of an investigation officer to gather evidence and seize relevant items from the scene.

The Women Support and Investigation Division, which took over the charge of the case on May 9, seized the server nearly a week after the case was filed. It was trying to recover data that had been over written.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police had formed a three-member committee to investigate the negligence of the top officials of Banani Police Station.

On Monday, Additional Commissioner (crime) of the DMP Mizanur Rahman, who is leading the committee, told The Daily Star that they had already interrogated several police officials, including the OC. The probe team would also talk to the girls.

“Following investigation, we will prepare a report and submit it with our recommendations,” he said.

The fact-finding committee of the National Human Rights Commission is also probing whether Banani police helped the accused by delaying to record the case, committee convenor Nazrul Islam told The Daily Star. 

 Invited to Shafat's birthday party on March 28, the two girls went to the hotel around 9:00pm. After the party ended around midnight, Shafat and Nayem Ashraf alias Halim raped them in two rooms, alleged one of the two girls who filed the case.

Billal filmed the rape, Shafat's bodyguard Rahmat Ali intimidated the “victims” while Shadman Sakif, who introduced the girls to the “rapists“, refrained from informing the hotel authorities about the incident, she alleged, adding that all the five accused were “drunk”.

According to the case statement, the girls were forced to take alcohol before being raped at gunpoint.

A joint team of police arrested Shafat, son of one of the owners of Apan Jewellers, and Sakif in Sylhet on May 11. Billal and Rahmat were arrested in two places of the capital on Monday evening.

Nayem, the other accused, is on the run.

BILLAL AND RAHMATON REMAND

A Dhaka court yesterday placed Billal on a four-day remand and Rahmat on a three-day remand after Victim Support Centre Inspector Ismot Ara Ame, also the investigation officer of the case, produced them before it and sought a 10-day remand for each.

A police official dealing with the investigation said they interrogated the two accused separately, and then quizzed them again along with Shafat and Sakif. “The interrogation is going on and we are verifying their information,” he said.

Meanwhile, The Raintree Dhaka authorities yesterday once again said they did not notice anything unusual that night.

At a press conference, they demanded punishment of the rapists, if the girls were raped.

They organised the conference in the hotel amid allegations that they had tried to cover up the “rape”. Hotel Managing Director Shah Adnan Harun, who is the son of a Jhalakathi lawmaker BH Harun, was present.

Reza Golam Mostafa, general manager of Raintree hotel's financier company Humaira Group, made a statement. He answered only a handful of questions from journalists.

During the press conference, Raintree authorities maintained that there were no complaints of rape on the night of the incident.

“We never said that no one was raped in the hotel in the night of March 28,” Reza said. He claimed that the 10 bottles of alcohol recovered from the hotel was not theirs.

Meanwhile, the owners of Apan Jewellers and the hotel are scheduled to appear in the office of customs intelligence this morning with all their valid business documents.