In a Dhaka-bound Eagle Paribahan bus from Kushtia, passengers were beaten and robbed and a passenger was gang-raped.

It is known that an Eagle Transport bus from Kushtia with 24-25 passengers left for Dhaka on Tuesday (August 2) night. When it reached Sirajganj late at night, some robbers boarded the bus as passengers. After the bus crossed the Bangabandhu Bridge, the dacoits took control of it. They tied the hands, feet and eyes of all the passengers in the bus and beat and robbed them. At that time, a female passenger was raped by a group of robbers inside the bus. Later, on Wednesday, the bandits left the bus upside down in the sand bank near Raktipara Jame Masjid in Madhupur Upazila of Tangail and escaped.

Ayanal Hossain, the manager of Eagle Transport, came to the scene after receiving the news by phone and said that the robbers tied up our drivers, helpers and supervisors and took everything belonging to the passengers.

Madhupur Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mohammad Mazharul Amin (BPM) quoted the passengers as saying that the bus stopped for dinner at Dibaratri Hotel near Sirajganj. Started the journey again around half past one. On the way, 10-12 young passengers carrying bags on their shoulders boarded. After the bus crossed the Bangabandhu Bridge, the young gang on board tied up all the passengers one by one at gunpoint.

Within a few minutes, mobile phones, cash, gold ornaments were looted from all the passengers. Then they raped a female passenger. They kept the bus under control for three hours by turning it around in different places. Later, after changing the route, the bandits ran away by overturning the bus on a sand hill near Raktipara Jame Masjid of Madhupur Upazila on the Tangail-Mymensingh road.

The OC also said that a passenger of the bus has filed a case accusing unknown persons as plaintiff in the incident. The rape victim has been admitted to the upazila health complex. He will be sent to Tangail General Hospital for medical examination. The matter is being viewed with utmost importance.