University student dies after rape

A private university student in the capital died yesterday, a day after her father filed a rape case accusing five of her fellow students.

Yesterday evening, a Dhaka court placed on remand two of the accused -- Mortuza Raihan Chowdhury, 21, and Nuhat Alam Tafsir, 21.

They were arrested the previous day after the victim's father filed the case with Mohammadpur Police Station, said the station's Officer-in-Charge Abdul Latif. The number of days they are to be on remand could not be known when this report was filed early today.

The victim was admitted to a hospital in the early hours of Saturday, where she had been undergoing treatment till her death yesterday morning, the OC told The Daily Star last night.

He added that the arrestees went to the same university as the victim.

Quoting the case statement, OC Abdul Latif said, "On Thursday, five including the victim went to a restaurant in sector-3 of Uttara. There, they made her drink alcohol. As she fell sick, they took the girl to one of her friend's house in Mohammadia Homes Limited in Mohammadpur. There the prime accused raped her there."

When the victim's physical condition deteriorated, the students took her to the hospital, the OC added, quoting the case statement.

OC Abdul Latif further said the family received the body yesterday after the autopsy.

Morgue sources said they kept the victim's viscera sample to determine whether she was raped while police said the cause of death will be known after the autopsy report is prepared.

ACCUSED DIES

Meanwhile, one of the accused in the case -- Arafat, 28, who also drank with them, died at City Hospital in Mohammadpur yesterday, Harun-Ur-Rashid, deputy commissioner of Tejgaon Division, told The Daily Star around 2:15am today.

He also said their another friend also left the restaurant immediately after falling sick. Police are searching for a youth who took the alcohol to the restaurant, the DC said.

The incident took place three weeks after a 17-year-old O-level student was raped and murdered by her friend at a flat in the city's Kalabagan area, as per the case statement, sparking a huge outcry across the country.