A young woman and her friend were allegedly raped on Thursday in Cumilla鈥檚 Nangalkot.
A family member of one of the victims filed a case in this connection against seven individuals, including Md Mohsin, who is聽 reportedly known as a leader of Bangadda union Juba Dal, the youth wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Shahidul Islam, a youth whom the victims said they went to meet in Nangalkot, is the prime accused in the case.
Confirming the matter, Nangalkot police officer-in-charge AK Fazlul Haque said that the case was filed at about 11:30pm on Monday.
According to the case statement, the rape was perpetrated inside the sawmill of one Khokon Mia at Sebhakhola market in Nurpur village of Bangadda union in the upazila on January 9 afternoon.
Victims alleged that mill owner Khokon Mia along with Md Mohsin was involved in the incident.
Nangalkot upazila Juba Dal convener Monirul Islam Monir, however, denied that Mohsin belonged to the party.
鈥業f he is involved in a crime, he should be brought to justice. We will not take responsibility for his misdeeds,鈥� he added.
The women, a 20-year-old and a 35-year-old, lived in Cumilla city and did jobs nearby. One of the victims has her village home in Chandpur and the other in Lakshmipur, according to the police.
One of them was in a relationship with main accused Shahidul Islam from Nangalkot.
On the day of the incident, she went to Nangalkot with the other woman to meet Shahidul where they hung around the area in an auto-rickshaw with Shahidul and several of his accomplices. Then they were forcibly taken to Khokon鈥檚 sawmill in Bangadda union, where they were confined in a room and raped.
The women also alleged that perpetrators beat them up and recorded their video. Perpetrators also threatened spread the footage on social media if they reported their torture, victims alleged.
Later they were sent back on a battery-run auto rickshaw with the help of the saw mill owner Khokon, they said.
The women mentioned that they initially decided not to go to the police out of fear of stigma in society and their families.
They initially sought help from the local people to retrieve the video footage.
Having failed to retrieve the footage, they eventually went to the police on Monday.
Assistant superintendent of police for Chauddagram circle Nishat Tabassum said that an investigation was launched.
