Bangladesh
Tangail Bus Robbery Robbery, gang-rape on moving bus in Tangail, 3 arrested
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, August 5: Members of the robber gang boarded a Dhaka-bound night coach from Kushtia. First, they took control of the vehicle, tied the hands, feet, and eyes of the passengers, beat them, and looted their money and other valuables. Later, the dacoits allegedly gang-raped a woman, and finally, after changing the route, they overturned the vehicle in a sand dune beside the road to Madhupur in Tangail and ran away.
It is reported that the members of the inter-district bandits tortured the passengers for three hours, after taking control of the bus.
The police have so far arrested three people on suspicion of involvement in the robbery.
Tangail Superintendent of Police Sarkar Mohammad Qaiser said in a press conference held in his conference room on Friday afternoon that one Raja Mia was arrested from Tangail town on Thursday. Three mobile phones were also recovered from him.
After interrogating him, two more people were arrested from Gazipur's Kaliakair in a night raid. The arrestees are - Nurunnabi (26) of Roumari Upazila of Kurigram district and Abdul Awal (30) of Kaliakair Upazila of Gazipur district.
Earlier on Tuesday (August 2) at around 3:30 am, the dacoit gang escaped after overturning the bus on a sand dune in front of Mujibar's house opposite the Raktipara Jame Masjid in Madhupur. The incident took place on Tuesday when the Eagle Paribahan bus from Kushtia was leaving for Dhaka with 30-35 passengers.
File photo/Collected
Fruit trader Habibur Rahman Habib, a resident of Baraigram, Natore, is a regular passenger of that bus. He said the bus stopped for dinner at Dibaratri Hotel near Sirajganj. Later, around half past midnight, the journey started again. On the way, 10-12 youths carrying bags on their shoulders boarded the bus. At that time, everyone on the bus was almost asleep. After the bus crossed the Bangabandhu Bridge, the robbers tied up the sleeping passengers one by one. They took control of the bus by blindfolding every passenger and holding the driver hostage. Within five minutes, mobile phones, money, jewellery, and other valuables were looted from all the passengers. Then a woman passenger was gang-raped by members of the robber gang.
He also said that the robbers kept the bus under control for about three hours by diverting it to different roads. In the end, after changing the route, the bandits took the bus to the sand dune next to the Raktipara Jame Masjid of Madhupur Upazila on the Tangail-Mymensingh highway and escaped.
Hekmat Ali, a passenger of the bus, filed a case at Madhupur police station in Tangail on Wednesday night.
