APAN JEWELLARS RAIDS 497kg gold, diamonds seized in two days
Two more suspects in the alleged rape of two university students in Banani hotel were remanded in police custody on Tuesday for interrogation while 497kg gold and 429gm diamonds were seized in raids on five Apan Jewellers showrooms in Dhaka in two days.
The management of Raintree Hotel at Banani on Tuesday demanded justice for the alleged rapes committed in the hotel by Apan Jewellers owner Dildar Hossain’s son Shafat Ahmed and his associates on March 28.
The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate also summoned Dildar to its headquarters today to explain how the sized gold and diamond were procured.
Customs officials said that they made inventories of the gold in the each showroom and handed those gold to the management.
Customs intelligence officials on Sunday seized 286kg gold and 61gm diamonds in raids on Apan Jewellers outlets at Gulshan, Uttara, Mouchak and Shimanta Square. They seized more 211.4kgs gold and 368gm diamonds Monday night.
Customs intelligence director general Moinul Khan said that they were investigating how Apan Jewellers procured gold and diamonds.
Dildar said that his company collected gold in the way rests of the companies procured due to suspension of gold import in Bangladesh for over five years.
Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Lashkar Sohel Rana on Tuesday remanded Dildar’s son Shafat Ahmed’s driver Billal Hossain for four days and Shafat’s bodyguard Rahmat Ali for three days in police custody for interrogation on the alleged rape in Raintree Hotel at Banani.
The court passed the order after hearing an application field by the investigation officer of the case Women Support and Investigation division inspector Israt Jahan Ame.
Billal and Rahmat’s lawyer Hemayet Uddin Mollah, also assistant public prosecutor, argued that they were mere staff of prime accused Shafat and not involved in the rape. Billal and Rahmat were arrested Rapid Action Battalion and Detective Branch of police respectively on Monday.
A university student filed the case with Banani police station on May 6 accusing Shafat, Nayem Ashraf alias Hasan Mohammad Halim, Shafat’s friend Sadman Sakif, Billal and Rahmat of raping her and her friend inviting them to a birthday party in Raintree Hotel on March 28.
Nayem is still in hiding.
The customs intelligence also summoned Raintree Hotel managing director Syed Muhammad Adnan Harun, son of Awami League lawmaker BH Harun, for an explanation of storing foreign liquor illegally.
Raintree Hotel management, however, at a press conference on Tuesday demanded justice for ‘what happened in two suites’ of the hotel on March 28.
The hotel management said that the suites were soundproof and it was not possible for the hotel staff to understand what happened inside.
Syed Muhammad Adnan Harun, Raintree financing company Humaira Group’s general manager Reza Golam Mostafa, hotel general manager Frank Forget and its internal operation executive Fazan Ara Rimi were present at the news conference. They skipped many questions of the journalists.
The March 28 rapes caused a big slump in the hotel’s business, they said without giving details.
Most of the boarders left it and those who booked rooms for next two weeks cancelled the booking, the officials said.
Internet users have, meanwhile, voted down the hotel that opened in April.
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