Pabna OC closed, SI suspended

The officer-in-charge of Pabna Sadar Police Station, who allegedly arranged a marriage between a gang-rape victim and one of the alleged rapists in a bid to cover up the crime, has been closed.

A sub inspector of the same police station has also been suspended for his alleged involvement in the incident, our Pabna correspondent reports.

OC Obaidul Huq has been closed and attached to police line for allegedly arranging the marriage while SI Ekramul Huq has been suspended for forcefully bringing the marriage registrar to the police station, said Superintendent of Police in Pabna Rafiqul Islam.

The SP briefed journalists at his office this morning about the latest development.

The OC allegedly arranged a marriage of a married woman, also mother of three, with one of the alleged rapists, Russel, at Pabna Sadar Police Station on September 5.  

Though the victim was already married and a mother of three, the officer allegedly made her sign documents for divorcing her husband, her brother alleged earlier.

After the allegations were reported in the media, the district police on Monday formed a three-member committee to probe the matter.

Following an instruction of the cabinet, the Pabna Deputy Commissioner today formed another three-member committee with Additional District Magistrate of Pabna Jahid Newaz as the head and asked it to submit a report to the cabinet by September 15.

The additional superintendent of police of Pabna and deputy civil sergeant of Pabna are the two other members of the probe committee.

Meanwhile two more persons, involved with the rape incident, were arrested in the morning. Of them, Ali Hossain was arrested from Tongi while Sanju from Natore, police said.

The victim filed a case on Monday accusing five persons of confining her to a room and gang-raping her multiple times between August 29 and August 31.

The accused -- Russel, Shariful Islam Ghontu, Hossain, Osman and Sanju -- are from different villages in Pabna sadar.

Of them, Russel and Shariful, joint secretary of Dapunia Union Awami League, had been arrested soon after the case was filed.