Rape charges dropped for Bangladesh cricket hero Rubel

Dhaka, March 10 (IANS) Bangladesh cricket star Rubel Hossain got good news along with his match-winning heroics on Monday at the World Cup as a Bangladeshi actress who filed a rape case against him said on Tuesday she was withdrawing the charges against the medium pacer.

Naznin Akter Happy, 19, made the rape allegation earlier this year after claiming that Rubel had reneged on a promise of marriage that he made while they were having an "intimate affair", reports Xinhua.

The allegation had threatened to scupper Rubel's chances of appearing in the World Cup after he was remanded in custody by a court in Dhaka.

But he was later granted bail until the end of the World Cup in view of "national interest" as he was a key member of Bangladesh's team.

Happy said she had decided to forgive her former boyfriend who starred in a dramatic victory over England to reach World Cup quarterfinals on Monday.

"I've forgiven him. I am not going to continue the case against him," Happy said on Tuesday.