Three men have been arrested in connection with the gang rape of a young woman in Laksam upazila of Cumilla.
The arrests were made on Monday night following a case filed over the incident, which occurred on June 9. A total of four individuals have been accused in the case.
The survivor, a resident of Monohorganj upazila, works at a factory in the Fatehpur area of Laksam. The arrested suspects are Md Sagar, 26, from Bortopa village in Laksam; Enayetur Rahman Sakku, 19, from Peyarapur in Laksam Municipality; and Swapon Mia, 21, from Char-Kauna village in Pakundia upazila of Kishoreganj.
They were sent to jail on Tuesday following their appearance in court.
According to police and local sources, the woman had been in a relationship with a young man.
On June 8, she went to Laksam Bazar in search of him. There, she met autorickshaw driver Sakku, who promised to help her locate her boyfriend. When their search failed, she sat near the southern platform of Laksam Railway Junction around 10 pm.
While she was there, a group of local youths began harassing her. Sakku tried to present her as his wife to deflect attention. However, as the night went on, he denied their relationship and handed her over to the group. With Sakku’s help, the men forcefully took her to an abandoned tin-shed house on the eastern side of the railway tracks, where Sagar, Swapon, and another man named Khorshed allegedly gang-raped her.
Laksam Police Station Officer-in-Charge Nazneen Sultana confirmed that the woman’s cousin filed a case against four individuals on Monday night.
Acting on the complaint, police arrested three suspects. The survivor underwent a medical examination at Cumilla Medical College Hospital on Tuesday, and her judicial statement was recorded.
Efforts are ongoing to arrest the fourth accused, Khorshed.