C T Online Desk: Ten accused including mastermind Ratan Hossain of Tangail bus dacoity and rape case were produced before the court on Tuesday.
Of them, six accused have been placed on remand for three days following a petition filed by the police.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Farzana Hasnat issued the order of remand in respect of six accused while four other already submitted confessional statements.
The development came a day after Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the ten accused from different places of Dhaka and Gazipur and held a press briefing.
Later, RAB handed over the accused including mastermind Ratan to Tangail police as the case is pending with the district court.
Other arrested accused are Md Alauddin, 24, Sohag Mondol, 20, Khandakar Md Hasmat Ali alias Dipu, 23, Md Babu Hossain alias Julhas, 21, Md Jibon, 21, Md Abdul Mannan, 22, Md Nayeem Sarkar, 19, Russell Talukdar, 32, and Md Aslam Talukdar alias Raihan.
RAB made the arrest conducting drives in Dhaka, Gazipur and Sirajganj on Sunday, said Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of the Legal and Media Wing of the RAB headquarters, at a press briefing in Dhaka on Monday.
RAB also seized 20 mobile phone sets, two silver bangles, 14 SIM (subscriber identity module) cards and a sharp weapon used in robbery from their possession.
During primary interrogation, it was known that mastermind Ratan served jail for one and a half years for robbing a bus of ‘Savar Paribahan’ along with Jibon, who was a helper of a bus, in 2018. After being released from jail on bail in 2020, Ratan snatched an auto-rickshaw and again was jailed for another year.
He and his gang committed robberies on the highways in Savar, Gazipur and Sirajganj areas.
During the robbery in Tangail, Jibon was engaged in looting the goods of the passengers.
On August 3, a crime occurred in Raktipara area of Tangail’s Madhupur upazila giving Goosebumps to all.
Hailing from Kushtia, the bus took the busy Dhaka-Tangail Highway in the Natiapara area. Posing as passengers, the seven dacoits boarded the bus in two groups in a span of 10 minutes around 11pm after it resumed its onward journey following a stopover at a hotel in Sirajganj district.
The dacoits took control of the bus at gunpoint and compelled the driver to run the vehicle towards Madhupur upazila.
Twenty-four people, including 22 passengers and two staffers, were on board the bus of ‘Eagle Paribahan’ at the time were held hostage.
At one stage, the armed gang robbed the twenty-four people, including 22 passengers of cash, jewellery and mobile phones.
They blindfolded the passengers and raped a woman commuter on board.
