Tonu Murder: First arrest made after 10 years
The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has arrested a suspect a decade after the rape and murder case of Sohagi Jahan Tanu, a student of Victoria Government College in Cumilla.
The arrested individual, Senior Warrant Officer (retired) Hafizur Rahman, was detained from a residence in Keraniganj, Dhaka, on Tuesday night.
He was later produced before the Cumilla court on Wednesday (April 22), where a court granted a three-day remand following a prosecution plea.
The order was issued by Senior Judicial Magistrate Mominul Haque of Cumilla Sadar Court-1.
Tanu’s brother, Rubel Hossain, confirmed the development and was present at the court during the proceedings.
Earlier, on April 6, the same court had ordered DNA testing of three suspects in connection with the case. According to PBI Dhaka Inspector Md. Tarikul Islam, DNA profiles had previously been collected from items of clothing belonging to Tanu, but they had not matched with any suspects.
The three individuals ordered for DNA testing are all retired army personnel.
On March 20, 2016, Tanu went to tutor at a residence inside Cumilla Cantonment and went missing afterwards. Her body was later recovered from a jungle near the cantonment power house.
The following day, her father Yar Hossain filed a murder case against unidentified persons at Cumilla Kotwali Model Police Station.
The case was first investigated by local police, then the district DB, and later CID, but none were able to solve it.
In October 2020, the case was transferred to PBI Dhaka headquarters on instructions from Police Headquarters. Since then, multiple officers have investigated the case.
The current investigation officer, Inspector Md. Tarikul Islam, took charge in September 2024 as the sixth IO in the case.
Tanu’s father, Yar Hossain, said he has been waiting for justice for 10 years and hopes to see the punishment of his daughter’s killers during his lifetime under the current government.
Court sources said that so far, 80 hearing dates have been held in this widely discussed case, with investigations carried out by seven officers from four different agencies over the past decade.
