Staff Reporter:
What began as a family dispute between two brothers spiralled into a shocking act of vengeance that left a woman brutally assaulted in Cumilla’s Muradnagar upazila — an incident that was filmed and widely circulated on social media.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Friday said it arrested Md Shah Poran, 28, the alleged mastermind behind the 26 June attack that drew outrage after a video of the assault went viral.
Poran was picked up from the Kabila Bazar area of Burichang upazila on Thursday night (3 July), said Lt Col HM Sazzad Hossain, commanding officer of RAB-11, during a media briefing in Dhaka.
A mobile phone used to spread the video footage was also recovered from his possession, he added.
According to RAB, Poran plotted the assault to take revenge on his elder brother, Fazor Ali, who had slapped him during a village arbitration in Baherchar two months ago. Quoting locals, officials said the incident stemmed from a long-standing quarrel between the two.
Seeking revenge, Poran reportedly formed a group through the messaging app Imo and waited for an opportunity. Around 11:30 pm on the day of the incident, Fazor entered the victim’s house under the pretext of collecting interest on a Tk50,000 loan he had given her mother.
Twenty minutes later, Poran and a group of accomplices—identified as Abul Kalam, Onik, Arif, Suman, Ramzan, and 8–10 unnamed others—broke into the house, beat and assaulted the woman, and forced Fazor to join the abuse.
The group filmed the entire incident and later posted the video on social media, causing panic and widespread outrage across the locality, RAB said.
The victim’s family filed a case with Muradnagar Police Station on 29 June under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act and the Pornography Control Act.
So far, six people—including the alleged rapist Fazor—have been arrested in connection with the case.
During primary interrogation, Poran admitted to planning the attack and directing the filming and distribution of the footage as a form of revenge, RAB officials claimed.
He is being handed over to Muradnagar police, while efforts are underway to trace and arrest the remaining suspects.
