The involvement of a fourth individual has been confirmed in the murder of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a history department student of Cumilla Victoria Government College and a theatre activist.

According to DNA test results conducted on samples collected from Tonu’s clothes, investigators found the blood of another person in addition to the semen of three men.

With this latest finding, samples found on Tonu’s clothing now indicate the involvement of four individuals. 
Md Tarikul Islam, inspector of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) in Dhaka and the investigation officer of the case, confirmed the matter last night.

Speaking to reporters, he said, “A few months ago, I sent a letter to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) seeking details about the samples collected from Tonu’s clothes. About a month ago, I was informed that, besides the semen of three men, traces of another person’s blood were also found in the samples. This raises the number of suspects to four.” 

He added that although the presence of semen from three men became public in May 2017, information about the fourth individual has surfaced only now.

On March 20, 2016, Tonu went to a house inside Cumilla Cantonment for private tutoring and never returned home. Later, her body was recovered from bushes near the powerhouse area inside the cantonment. Initially, it was believed that she had been raped and murdered.

The following day, her father, retired Cantonment Board office assistant Yar Hossain, filed a murder case against unidentified persons with Kotwali Model Police Station in Cumilla.Two post-mortem reports submitted that year by the forensic department of Cumilla Medical College Hospital failed to determine the exact cause of death.

The DNA report was considered the final hope in the investigation. In May 2017, CID informed the media that DNA tests on samples collected from Tonu’s clothes had found semen from three men.

In addition, from October 2017, CID teams interrogated three individuals in Dhaka Cantonment whom Tonu’s mother had suspected. However, CID did not disclose their identities to the media at that time.

On April 6 this year, PBI inspector Tarikul sought court permission to cross-check the DNA profiles of three suspects through a progress report submitted to the court.

Later, on April 22, retired army personnel Hafizur Rahman was shown arrested in the case in Dhaka. When PBI sought remand, a Cumilla court granted a three-day remand for interrogation.

After questioning, Hafizur Rahman was sent to Cumilla Central Jail by court order, where he currently remains. Before being produced before the court, his DNA samples were collected at the CID forensic laboratory in Dhaka. Those samples will be matched with the evidence collected from Tonu’s clothes.

Tonu’s father identified Hafizur Rahman as a former senior warrant officer who had served in the Signal Unit at Cumilla Cantonment at the time of the murder.