Two more people have been arrested by the police in connection with the robbery and rape of the Eagle Paribahan. So far, a total of three people were arrested in this sensational incident. Sarkar Mohammad Kayser, Tangail District Superintendent of Police announced the arrest of two persons in a press conference at the conference room of the office of the Superintendent of Police yesterday at 12 noon.
The two arrested are - Abdul Awal (30),son of Shukur Ali of Kanchanpur village of Kaliakair upazila of Gazipur and and Nurun nabi (26), son of Bahej of Dhona Char Paschimpara village of Roumari upazila of Kurigram. Both the arrested are drug addicted.
Raja Mia, the arrested immediately after the sensational incident happened was sent to the court by applying for a 7-day remand. MadhupurAmli Court Judge Badal Kumar Chand of Tangail Senior Judicial Magistrate granted a five-day remand on Thursday evening. Since then, the police have started questioning him. Information about the bus robbery gang is informed from him. It was informed in the press conference that they are being interrogated about whether they have participated in any other robbery activities, how many members in their group and what kind of crime they are involved in.
It was informed in the press conference that these two have been arrested from KaliakairUpazila of Gazipur. Based on the information obtained during the interrogation of Raja Miah, who was arrested earlier in this incident. One was arrested from Sutrapur Tan area of Kaliakir at 5 am on Friday. Abdul Awal and Nurunnabi were arrested at 9 am from Shilabah Paschimpara of the same upazila. Nurunnabi is a resident of Dhona Char Paschimpara village of Roumari upazila in Kurigram. He lived in a rented house at ShilabahPaschimpara of Kaliakair upazila. Earlier on Thursday, Raja Mia was arrested from Deola area adjacent to Tangail city bus terminal. Raja Mia is the son of Harun Or Rashid of Balla Gorasthan Para village of Kalihati Upazila. He lived on rent in Deola area.
In a press conference, Sarkar Mohammad Kayser, Superintendent of Police said that during initial interrogation, the two arrested denied involvement in sexual assault. They will be questioned further. Besides, these two will be presented before the victim woman. She will identify then. A passenger-bound bus named Eagle Paribahan left for Chittagong via Narayanganjon last Tuesday (August 2) night from Daulatpur in Kushtia, and stopped at a restaurant for food in Sirajganj around 11:30 pm. After starting the journey from there, a few dacoits boarded the bus in three stages. After the bus crossed Tangail, the robbers took control of the bus, holding the driver hostage at gunpoint. They tied the hands, feet, eyes of the passengers and looted them all. The bus had 24-25 passengers including 12-13 women. At that time, a female passenger in the bus was sexually assaulted in turn.
The robbers later took the bus towards the Tangail-Mymensingh road. At around 3:30 pm, the robbers left the bus in a sand dune on the side of the road at a place called Raktipara at Madhupur upazila and escaped. Later local people and fire service personnel rescued the passengers. In this incident, Hekmat Mia, the passenger of that bus, filed a case regarding bus robbery and sexual assault at Madhupur police station as a plaintiff.