United News of Bangladesh

A Cumilla court on Monday ordered the authorities concerned to conduct a cross-match of DNA profiles of three former army personnel with those earlier collected from the clothing of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a Cumilla Govt Victoria College student who was killed in 2016. Cumilla Chief Judicial Magistrate Md Mominul Haque passed the order after Inspector Tariqul Islam of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), also the investigating officer of the case filed over the murder, appeared before the court and sought permission to carry out the DNA cross-matching. According to the IO, DNA profiles had previously been extracted from Tonu’s personal clothing soon after the incident. However, those samples were never matched with any suspects at the time. “The court has now directed that the DNA profiles of three individuals be cross-matched with the samples collected earlier,” Tariqul said, adding that the three suspects are former army personnel who have since retired. However, the identities of the suspects were not disclosed. Earlier in the day, the PBI officer submitted a progress report to the court, which also instructed him to place an updated report on the next date of hearing. Tonu, a second-year student of the history department at Victoria College, went missing on March 20, 2016, after leaving for private tuition inside Cumilla Cantonment. Her body was later recovered from a nearby forest area, prompting her father Yar Hossain to file a murder case at Cumilla Kotwali Model Police Station. The case has since seen multiple changes of investigating agencies, moving from local police to the Detective Branch, then Criminal Investigation Department, and later to the PBI, but no breakthrough has been achieved so far. Family members have long alleged a lack of transparency in the investigation, claiming that earlier DNA tests were conducted but their results were never made public. Tariqul is the sixth officer to lead the probe.

Six years into the murder of college student Sohagi Jahan Tonu police probe into the case has seen little progress with dejected family members losing hope for getting any justice. Tonu, 19, a second-year history student of Cumilla Victoria College and a member of Victoria College Theatre, was found dead at Cumilla Mainamati Cantonment on March 20, 2016 after she went out for private tuition. Her murder sparked a huge public outcry amid growing demand for identifying the killers and put them on trial. Also read: One held over murder of schoolgirl ‘after rape’ in Magura Forensic doctors at Cumilla Medical College Hospital conducted two autopsies on her body but their reports did not mention any clear cause of her death. In May, 2016, CID told media that semen of three men were found in DNA test but the officials concerned declined to make any comment over further development. Banaj Kumar Majumdar, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), said “CID has done a lot as semen was found after testing DNA we will increase the number of suspected people and we are working focusing on the matter.” Tonu’s mother Anwara Begum said “No one has come here and asked about Tonu. We are poor and we do not expect any judgment. We just pray to Allah.” However, a doa mahfil was arranged at the local mosque marking the 6th death anniversary of Tonu and cooked food was distributed among the orphan children. A disappointed Yaar Hossain, father of Tonu, said “Poor people are always deprived of justice.” After the recovery of Tonu’s body, police suspected that she had been raped before the murder. Tonu was buried at a grave at Mirzapur village in Muradnagar upazila on 21 March. Also read: 9 to die in Naogaon for triple murder On March 29, 2016, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) started investigation on the killing of the girl. From March 25-27, 2017, the CID team interrogated Dhaka cantonment. In 2020, the case was shifted to PBI. But no visible progress has been made yet.