Three more accused were arrested yesterday in connection with the latest “gang rape” of a mother of six in Noakhali's Subarnachar upazila on Sunday.

The arrestees are Arman, Ramnobel and Raihan, said Dipak Jyoti Khisha, additional superintendent of Noakhali district police.

With them, so far five accused in the case have been arrested.

Meanwhile, police yesterday placed the two other accused -- Abul Basher and Yousuf Majhi -- before the Noakhali Cognisance Court-2 with a seven-day remand plea. Judge Masfiqul Haque ordered to send the duo to jail and fix today for hearing the remand petition.

Resident Medical Officer of Noakhali General Hospital Syed Mohiuddin Abdul Azim said the victim underwent all the required medical tests.

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'Gang rape' again at Subarnachar

It may take some time to prepare the final reports, he added.

The woman, aged about 48, was allegedly gang-raped in Noakhali's Subarnachar upazila on Sunday evening over “campaigning for an upazila vice chairman candidate”.

The incident happened barely three months after a mother of four was gang-raped by 10-12 people in the same area allegedly for voting for “sheaf of paddy” in the December 30 national election.

A man, who allegedly raped a madrasa student inside a car on Sunday, was killed in a “gunfight” with police in Chattogram's Mariner's Road area early yesterday.

Police said they arrested another suspect over the rape in city's DC Road area hours before the “shootout”.

The dead Md Shahabuddin, 23, was a resident of Kutubdia upazila in Cox's Bazar while the arrestee Shaymol Dey, 30, is from Rangunia upazila of Chattogram.

Both of them were car drivers.

Police claimed to have recovered a firearm and four cartridges from the spot, said police.

On the day of the rape, the two forcibly picked up the girl, who was going to attend her classes, in a private car from in front of Jamal Khan PDB officer quarters around 10:30am, said Mehedi Hasan, deputy commissioner (DC) of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) South Division.

The miscreants were able to carry out the crime in broad daylight as the car had tinted windows and they played music with high volume so as not to get noticed, he added.

Later, they dropped her off at Goni Bakery intersection.

They pretended to have recorded the whole incident on one of their mobile phones and threatened the girl of releasing the video clip if she told anyone, the DC said.

Inspector Kamruzzaman of Kotwali Police Station, who led the drive to arrest Shaymol, said, “On Monday, Shahabuddin called the girl again and asked her to come to their designated place threatening to release the clip if she had acted otherwise.”

“Following the phone call, the victim lodged a complaint with the police and the investigation began,” said the Inspector.

Police set a trap on Monday evening to arrest the two in city's Didar Market area where Shahabuddin and one of his cohorts, other than Shyamol, were waiting in a car for the girl.

As soon as the girl arrived at the spot around 6:30pm (as part of the plan), Shahabuddin picked her up inside the car drove towards Chawkbazar area.

Although the police had a plan to catch Shahabuddin red handed, but they could not.

After an hour-long chase, the miscreants left the car, along with the girl, at Jahur Hawkers market area and escaped.

Later, police arrested Shyamol around 10:30pm by identifying his car, which was used in the rape incident on Sunday, through CCTV footage.

Based on his information, police went to arrest Shahabuddin in city's Fishery Ghat area.

The “gunfight” ensued around 3:30am when Shahabuddin and his cohorts opened fire on police, forcing them to retaliate.

Kamruzaman also said Shahabuddin “raped” another girl before in the same manner but that did not come to light because of her silence.

DC Mehedi said police had information that there was a syndicate of drivers who were involved with various crimes including kidnapping and rape.

Police are trying to arrest them, he added.

The victim was sent to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH)'s One Stop Crisis Centre while the body was sent to the medical college's morgue for autopsy.

Police also claimed to have seized the two cars used in the crimes. 

A Noakhali court today placed seven people including a former Awami League leader on five-day remand each in connection with the gang-rape of a woman in Subarnachar upazila of Noakhali.

Judge of Cognisance Court-2 Nobonita Guha passed the order after police produced them before it around 1:00pm, our local correspondent reports quoting Ibrahim Khalil, investigation officer of the case.

WHO IS THE MASTERMIND OF THE INCIDENT?

The Awami League yesterday expelled Ruhul Amin from the party for his alleged involvement in the gang-rape of a woman in Noakhali's Subarnachar upazila.

The decision came two days after police arrested Ruhul, the publicity affairs secretary of Subarnachar AL, on charge of ordering his accomplices to rape the mother of four for voting for the “sheaf of paddy” -- the BNP's electoral symbol -- in the election held on December 30.

Police arrested Ruhul, whose name was not mentioned in the first information report, from Wapda area in the district's Sadar upazila on Thursday. He is also a former union parishad member.

According to locals, he was once poor and he joined the AL in 2009.

After he was elected member of ward-5 of Char Jubilee Union Parishad in 2011, he led criminal activities in the locality, including drug trading, land grabbing and plundering trees, locals claimed. Later, he was made the publicity affairs secretary of Subarnachar AL.

Once a landless person, Ruhul built a housing estate a kilometre west of Pankhar Bazar on Ramgati-Char Jabbar Road. He named the estate after him, Ruhul Amin Nagar, reports our Noakhali correspondent.

He has a house near the estate.

WHAT HAPPENED IN NOAKHALI?

The 35-year-old woman was gang-raped in Subarnachar area on December 31 allegedly by 10 to 12 Awami League activists.

The woman, who was being treated at Noakhali General Hospital with severe injuries, claimed that she was raped for voting for “sheaf of paddy”, the electoral symbol of the BNP, during Sunday’s national polls.

The woman alleged the rapists were accomplices of Ruhul Amin, a former member of Char Jubilee Union Parishad. “They had repeatedly insisted that I should vote for boat [the AL's symbol] but I cast my ballot for 'sheaf of paddy',” she said.

WHAT DID DOCTORS SAY?

Doctors treating her woman have found evidence of gang rape.

Three more accused have been arrested in connection with the latest “gang rape” incident of a mother of six in Noakhali's Subarnachar upazila on Sunday.

The arrestees were identified as Arman, Ramnobel and Raihan, our local correspondent reports quoting Dipak Jyoti Khisha, additional superintendent of police in Noakhali.

With the latest, so far five accused of the case have been arrested.

Meanwhile, police sought seven-day remand for two of the accused who were held earlier. Judge Masfiqul Haque of Noakhali Cognisance Court-2 ordered that the accused Abul Basher and Yousuf Majhi to be sent to jail and the court will hold hearing on the remand plea on Wednesday.

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'Gang rape' again at Subarnachar

Elsewhere, the medical tests of the victim, aged about 48, have been completed, said Syed Mohiuddin Abdul Azim, resident medical officer of Noakhali General Hospital.

But the preparation of the final report may take some time, he added.

A mother of six, aged about 48, was allegedly gang-raped in Noakhali's Subarnachar upazila on Sunday evening over “campaigning for an upazila vice chairman candidate”.

The incident happened barely three months after a mother of four was gang-raped by 10-12 people in the same area allegedly for voting for “sheaf of paddy” in the December 30 national election.

Police arrested two people on Sunday after the victim's husband had filed a case with Char Jabbar Police Station, accusing 12 people, including four unnamed. The arrestees are Abul Basher and Yousuf Majhi, both accused in the case.

Two sisters were allegedly gang-raped in Tongi on Tuesday night, while a man was arrested on charges of raping a minor girl in Narayanganj.

Quoting the victims, police said the two sisters, aged between 17 and 18, went to Tongi from the capital’s Badda area around 8:00pm to visit their relatives.

After reaching Tongi, they tried to contact their relatives over mobile phone. But they found their phones switched off. They were waiting on the bank of Turag.

At that time, an unknown woman approached them and asked for their relatives’ address. Then the woman told the victims to walk in a certain direction for a few minutes to get to their relatives’ house.

The girls started walking forward. Then five youths suddenly appeared before them and forced them onto a boat. The youths took the boat to a remote place and raped the girls. 

When the victims started screaming, locals rushed to the spot and rescued the girls. But the youths managed to flee.

Yesterday, one of the victims filed a case against five youths with Tongi West Police Station. Of the accused, three were identified as Sharif Hossain, 22, Nayeem, 22, and Russell, 19.  

The girls were sent to Shaheed Taj Uddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital in Gazipur for tests.  

The victims knew one of the accused, said Emdadul Haque, officer-in-charge of the police station.

In Narayanganj, Rab arrested a man for raping a four and half-year-old girl in Sonargaon upazila on Tuesday night. 

The arrestee is Jibon, 27, a resident of Olipur of the same upazila.

Quoting the victim’s family, Rab said the girl and the accused are relatives and neighbours.    

Around 1:00pm on Monday, Jibon took the girl to his room and raped her, said Alep Uddin, senior assistant director of Rab-11, in a press release yesterday.

After returning home, the girl told her father about the incident. 

As the girl’s condition was deteriorating, she was admitted to the upazila health complex on Tuesday.

The girl was later moved to Narayanganj General Hospital for better treatment, said the Rab official, adding that the victim’s father filed a rape case against Jibon with Sonargaon Police Station yesterday.  

Our Gazipur and Narayanganj correspondents contributed to this report.