RAB arrests 10 over robbery, rape in Tangail moving bus

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested 10 people in connection with the case filed over robbery and rape in a moving bus in Tangail. 

Members of the elite force nabbed them including the mastermind of the heist Ratan Hossain conducting raids in different areas of Dhaka, Gazipur and Sirajganj, RAB's Legal and Media Wing Senior Assistant Director ANM Imran Khan told the media on Sunday (7 August). 

A press conference will be held on the development of the case on Monday, said Imran Khan.

The bus of "Eagle Paribahan," with 24-25 passengers on board, was on its way to Chattogram from Kushtia late on Tuesday night when the crime occurred.

A group of robbers boarded the bus around 11pm on Tuesday after it resumed its journey following a stopover at a hotel in Sirajganj district. 

And some 5-10 minutes later, four more got into the bus, police said.

"Around 12am on Wednesday when the bus took the busy Dhaka-Tangail Highway in the Natiapara area, the robbers whiffed out guns, hijacked the vehicle and forced the driver to drive towards Madhupur upazila," the SP said.

On a desolate stretch, the armed gang robbed the commuters of cash, jewellery and mobile phones.

"The robbers then blindfolded the passengers and raped the woman commuter on board," the SP said.

The ordeal continued for over three hours till the seven criminals forced them to get off the bus and drove the heavy vehicle towards Raktipara's Jam-e-Mosque, where they abandoned it and fled with the loot, police said.

"The victim woman is being treated at Tangail General Hospital, and her initial medical test showed evidence of rape," the police official added.