A group of kidnappers, posing as drivers for the app-based ride-share Uber, roamed around the capital. If they see a girl or a young woman walking alone on the road, they block the road and pick her up in the car. After that gang rape and extortion of ransom took place.
Recently, in front of Souchna Community Center of Mohammadpur police station in the capital, on her way back to the rickshaw yoga, a teenage girl was threatened and taken to a private car, raped at gunpoint and demanded ransom. In this incident, the mother of the victim girl filed a case in Mohammadpur police station. Allegations of kidnapping, rape and extortion of ransom have been made in the case.
According to the complaint source, the victim is Tuli Akhtar (pseudonym) age 14 years. She lives in the Taj Mahal Road area of Mohammadpur of the capital. Tuli, an eighth grade student of a local school, left for school on the morning of May 11. Then near Shyamoli park she met a friend in the park. From there, she was returning home by rickshaw around 11:30. As soon as the rickshaw came in front of Suchna Community Center on Ring Road of Mohammadpur Police Station, a man stopped it. Then forcibly took her in a private car from the rickshaw. Later, they took the girl to a secluded road in the area of her house and gang-raped her at gunpoint. Then the kidnappers dropped the girl in front of the house. Before that they extorted money from mother and friend through mobile banking by threatening to kidnap and harm Tuli. In this incident, on May 14, Tuli's mother filed a case against unknown persons as plaintiff.
After the case in this sensational incident, the Thana police started an investigation to catch those involved. Two persons involved in the incident were identified with the help of information technology and analysis of CCTV footage of the incident site and surrounding area. Later, on May 18, raids were conducted in Madhya Badda and Narayanganj's Rupganj areas and they were arrested. The arrested are- master mind Nazmul Hasan Shanto (30) and Shahid Mia (48).
Confirming the matter, Assistant Commissioner (AC) of Mohammadpur Zone of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Mizanur Rahman said that Nazmul Hasan Shanto (30) and Shahid Mia (48) have been arrested in connection with the abduction of a teenage girl from the street, followed by rape and extortion of ransom. The private car used in the kidnapping has been seized. The owner of the car is an advocate. Shanto drives the car on rent from him.
He also said that this organized gang led by Shanto had been abducting, gang-raping and extorting ransom in Dhaka for a long time. In the last one year Shanto's mobile banking transaction information has been found to be about Tk.14 lakh. It is believed that the money was brought into the development by blackmailing victims of similar crimes. But they used to throw away the SIM used for communication after the incident.
Sub-inspector Anik Bhakta of Mohammadpur police station is investigating the case. When asked about the gang, he said that three days after the incident, the victim's family filed a case with the police station. After investigating the case, Shanto, the mastermind of the gang, was first arrested from Madhya Badda. Later, based on the information given by him, Shohid was arrested from Rupganj of Narayanganj. They did not stay in one house for long.
SI Anik also said that a white Probox model owned by a lawyer was driven by Uber on a 50/50 share basis. Besides, Shanto used to bring the lawyer to the court. And the rest of the time he drives in Uber. Under the guise of driving this car, Shanto and his accomplices have been committing crimes like kidnapping, raping and extorting young women. According to the police, Shanto's accomplice Shohid fixed the target. If he saw a girl walking alone, he would tell Shanto. After that, the two of them used to rape and extort ransom.
SI Anik also said that the information of six cases filed against Shanto in different police stations of DMP has been obtained. Three of them are related to kidnapping and extortion. The remaining three are in cases of kidnapping and gang rape. The court granted a one-day remand to question her about this serial abduction and gang-rape. Shanto is currently in prison. Within two days, he will be brought to the police station for questioning.
On this side, talking to several officials of Mohammadpur police station, it is known that he used to abduct calm girls in the car in the guise of an Uber driver. Later he used to rape inside the car. Before releasing the family, the victim was threatened with harm and extorted the ransom through mobile banking. Apart from Mohammadpur, Shanto initially admitted that several similar incidents happened in Dhanmondi and Mirpur areas. A number of victims have been traced through Shanto's mobile phone and mobile banking information. But since the incident happened a long time ago, many victims do not want to file a new case.
On the condition of anonymity, the officials also said that Shanto’s yarget is mainly young teenagers and young women who came out of Park and various residential hotels. They mainly engage in various immoral activities without the knowledge of the family. As a result, Shanto used this weakness to intimidate them and kidnap them. After that, Shanto and his accomplices used to rape and extort ransom while sitting on the street.
