A female worker was allegedly raped and killed by a bus driver of a ceramic factory in his moving vehicle early yesterday and the driver dumped her body in a roadside bush at Kawalipara of Dhamrai in Dhaka. Meanwhile, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested a man over the rape of 13-year-old girl from Kamrangirchar area in the capital.

In another incident a teenager was allegedly gang-raped in Jashore and a case was lodged in this connection yesterday. Earlier, a rape-victim housewife filed a case with Tungipara police in Gopalganj as she was allegedly raped on January 7.

In Dhamrai, police arrested a bus driver of a ceramic factory early yesterday for killing a worker of the same factory after rape which he confessed to police of his crimes.

Firoz Elahi Sohail, 31, hailing from Pangsha area of Rajbari was arrested from his in-law’s house in Jethail of Dhamrai around 4:00am.

Officer in-Charge (OC) of Dhamrai Police Station Depok Chandra Saha said Mamata, 19, a worker of the same factory, boarded the bus from her residence in Dhamrai around 4:30am on Friday to go to her workplace. Since then, the girl had been missing, the OC said. Finding no whereabouts, the family members lodged a

missing dairy with the police station.

Later, police recovered the body from a bush beside a road in Kawalipara area and her body bore several injury marks.

In Kamrangirchar, RAB members arrested the main accused of the case filed for gang rape of a 13-year-old girl in the area of the capital.

The arrestee was identified as Md Ratan, 18, son of Shah Alam from Shariatpur, confirmed Major Mohammad Anisujjaman, company commander of RAB-10.

A RAB team nabbed Ratan during a drive in the Bank Colony in Savar around 2:30am, the official said.

Earlier on Friday, police arrested four accused — Hasan, Sifat, Sabuj and Rony— in the case and a female friend of the victim.

On Thursday, the group with the help of the female friend took the girl on the first floor of a two-storey under-construction building in Rasulpur area and gang-raped her between 6:30pm and 8:00pm.

A case was lodged by the victim’s mother with Kamrangirchar Police Station on the night of the incident.

The girl was admitted to One Stop Crisis Centre (OCC) of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

During primary interrogation Ratan said that he did the heinous crime as he failed in love affair with the victim. Ratan used to drive a battery-run auto-rickshaw in Kamrangirchar area. He was handed to Kamrangirchar police station.

In Jashore, a seventh-grader student was raped allegedly by some youths, said the victim’s mother at Deyapara under Abhaynagar upazila in Jashore on Friday afternoon.

The victim was rushed to Abhaynagar Upazila Health Complex at around 5:00pm and then doctor of the health complex referred her to Khulna Medical College Hospital as her condition deteriorated, said Dr Tafria Rahman Hiya, medical officer of the health complex.

Tajul Islam, officer in-charge, Abhaynagar police station, however, termed the incident as merely a brawl.

Mother of the victim told journalists that she found her child lying unconscious on the yard of their residence as soon as she came home from outside at around 4.30pm. She was then rushed to Abhaynagar Upazila Health Complex where the victim told her mother that she was gang-raped by Riaz Khan, 20 and his accomplices.  

The OC said the police was trying to catch those who were involved in the act although he did not admit the information of rape.

In Gopalganj, a man was charged with raping a housewife in Tungipara upazila of the district yesterday in connection with the rape incident that took place on January 7.

According to the case, the husband of the housewife worked in Dhaka. Since he was not at home, a youth named Tarun Mandal, 25, had been harassing the housewife for a long time. The woman went out on Wednesday night to respond to the call of nature. During this time, Tarun, who was getting her lips, tied her hands, feet and raped her.

Officer-in-Charge of Tungipara Police Station (OC) AFM Nasim told the media the rape-victim housewife had filed a case against the Tarun who is still absconding. The victim was sent to Gopalganj General Hospital for medical examination.

These rape incidents recurred in less than a week after a Dhaka University (DU) student was raped in the capital’s Kurmitola area shortly after sunset. The rape sparked huge protests and condemnation across the country.