Elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) today said they arrested the alleged rapist of a Dhaka University student in a predawn drive from the capital’s Sheora area and suspected him to be a serial rapist.
“The (suspected) rapist has been arrested,” RAB spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Md Sarwar-Bin-Quasem told a press conference at the force’s media centre at Kawran Bazar here this afternoon.
He said 30-year-old suspect Maznu confessed to his guilt during an initial interrogation while the victim also identified him as her rapist seeing his photographs while she is now being treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s (DMCH) One-Stop Crisis Centre.
Sarwar said Manzu was believed to have raped a number of women street beggars and physically challenged girls previously while the DU student became his victim on January 5 on her way to a friend’s house near the Kurmitola Golf Course along the Airport Road. He said Manzu also admitted that he was a drug addict and had raped the victim alone.
Quasem, who is the legal and media affairs director of RAB, said the suspect was detailed at around 4.50 am from Sheora rail crossing area along with the victim’s handbag. RAB yesterday arrested one Khairul Islam, 38, along with the victim’s mobile phone when he said he got the phone from one Aruna, who too was arrested in a subsequent raid.
RAB said Aruna gave them the clue about Manzu leading to his arrest. The RAB spokesman said a widower Maznu hailed from Hatiya of Noakhali, who came to Dhaka 10 years ago to make a living but got involved in various crimes, including mugging. The rape victim’s father earlier filed a case with Cantonment Police Station in the capital and later the case was transferred to police’s Detective Branch.
(BSS)
