Safat, four others acquitted in Banani double rape case

Bangladesh desk: A Dhaka court on Thursday pronounced the verdict in the case filed over the alleged rape of two university students at a birthday party in the Raintree Dhaka hotel in Banani in 2017, acquitting all the five accused.

Judge Mosammat Kamrun Nahar of Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, Dhaka -7, delivered the verdict stating that the prosecutor failed to prove the accused guilty before the court.

The accused are — Safat Ahmed, son of Apan Jewellers owner Dildar Ahmed, his friend Naeem Ashraf alias HM Halim, his firend Sadman Shakif, his bodyguard Rahmat Ali and his driver Billal Hossain.

They submitted written statement before the court pleading not guilty.

The two private university students were reportedly raped in the Raintree Dhaka hotel at Banani in the capital in 2017.

According to the charge sheet in the case, Shafat and Shafat’s friend Nayem Ashraf raped the two victims in two rooms in the hotel after the end of a birthday party, to which the victims were invited, on March 28, 2017.

Shafat’s driver Billal filmed the incident and bodyguard Rahmat Ali intimidated the girls not to speak about the incident while Shadman Sakif refrained from informing the rape incident to the hotel authorities and the police.

One of the victims filed the case with Banani police station on May 6, 2017.

The court started the trial on July 13, 2017 after the police submitted the charge sheet on June 8, 2017.