Staff Reporter:
A 38-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped after a group of youths held her ninth-grade son hostage at gunpoint at a house in Gafargaon of Mymensingh on Thursday night.
The attackers also allegedly recorded the incident on a mobile phone and threatened to circulate the video on social media unless the family paid Tk2 lakh within three days.
Police arrested a 23-year-old man, identified as Md Rajib, from an isolated area near the house around 3:00am on Friday in connection with the incident. Four others allegedly involved in the incident managed to flee.
According to police, the victim, the case statement and local sources, five youths, including Sharif Mia, 23, and Arif Mia, 21, went to the house of an expatriate around 8:00pm on Thursday. They initially asked for water and an axe.
When the expatriate’s son came to the door with water, the youths allegedly held him at gunpoint and entered the house.
They allegedly vandalised the house and looted Tk5 lakh kept in a wardrobe for construction work, along with gold ornaments and other valuables.
The woman was then allegedly sexually assaulted by two of the youths while the others remained outside, according to the complaint and police.
The victim alleged that Rajib recorded the incident on his mobile phone and later threatened to spread the video on social media. The attackers also allegedly demanded another Tk2 lakh within three days.
Hearing the victims’ cries, neighbours rushed to the house and informed police, prompting an overnight operation, police said.
A police team later arrested Rajib from an isolated area about one kilometre from the house. The other four suspects fled during the operation.
Police claimed that Rajib threw the mobile phone allegedly used to record the incident into water during the operation. The device was later recovered, they said.
The victim’s brother-in-law said that she had been living alone with her ninth-grade son after marrying off her elder daughter.
Mymensingh Additional Superintendent of Police (Gafargaon Circle) Montosh Biswas said the woman had accused five people in connection with the incident.
“According to her statement, two of them sexually assaulted her while the others remained outside,” he said.
She also alleged that the suspects held her son hostage, vandalised the house and took cash and valuables, the police official said.
Montosh Biswas said one person had been arrested and the allegations were being investigated.
“The actual facts will be established after examining the medical report and other evidence. The allegation of recording the incident is also being investigated,” he said.
The process of filing a case is underway, while police operations to arrest the other suspects are continuing, he added.
