The Rapid Action Battalion on Thursday arrested the brother of the Muradnagar rape accused for allegedly instigating a mob that assaulted the victim and also circulating a video of the assault.
The arrested is Shah Poran, 28, the younger brother of Fazar Ali, the prime accused in the rape case, who was arrested earlier.
Poran, the main suspect of the incident, was arrested from Cumilla on Thursday, RAB-11 commanding officer HM Sajjad Hossain said at a press briefing at the RAB media centre in the capital on Friday.
He said that a mobile phone, believed to be used to spread the footage, was also seized during the arrest.
鈥楾he two brothers had been harassing the Hindu woman, a wife of an expatriate, for a long time. The issue created a rift between the brothers, culminating in a village arbitration meeting about two months ago, during which Fazar allegedly humiliated and beat Shah Poran,鈥� he added.
RAB official Sajjad also said that following the incident, Poran allegedly instigated the mob that assaulted the victim and filmed the incident.
At about 11:30pm on the night of June 26, Fazar entered the woman鈥檚 house under the pretext of collecting interest on a Tk 50,000 loan he had given her mother.
鈥業n line with Poran鈥檚 plan, a group of men entered the woman鈥檚 home, subjected her to physical abuse, and recorded the incident,鈥� he said.
A video of the woman, stripped and beaten, surfaced online was later spread on social media, drawing public outrage.
The victim later filed a case against Fazar of rape with the Muradnagar police on June 29.
When asked about Shah Poran鈥檚 political affiliation, RAB official said, 鈥楥rime is crime. Politics is irrelevant here. He鈥檚 a CNG auto-rickshaw driver, and we found no political links.鈥�
Earlier on June 29, Cumilla district police said that on the night of Jun 26, Fazar was caught and beaten by the locals for allegedly raping the Hindu woman in her paternal home in Muradnagar.
However, he managed to escape afterwards the police said, adding that during the incident, some people recorded a video of the victim and posted it on social media.
Fazar was later arrested on charges of rape on June 29 and was currently under police custody while receiving treatment at Cumilla Medical College Hospital.
Meanwhile, four others, Sumon, Ramzan, Md Arif and Md Anik, were arrested under the Pornography Control Act and put on a three-day remand on July 3.
