7 years on, no breakthrough in Tonu murder probe
21 March 2023
Staff Reporter :
Seven years have passed since the gruesome murder of Sohagi Jahan Tonu. But law enforcement agencies have yet to make any progress in the murder probe.
Even not a single arrest has been made till date.
Tonu, a student of Cumilla Victoria Government College and a theatre activist, was raped and murdered inside the Cumilla Cantonment on March 20, 2016.
The incident sparked protests across the country.
The "cause of her death" also could not be determined even after two autopsies at Cumilla Medical College.
The CID officials only could confirm, through DNA tests in May that year, that Tonu was raped before being murdered.
Spermatozoa of three unidentified persons was found in Tonu's clothes. It didn't match with the samples of any suspect, investigators say.
CID also claimed to have interrogated more than 200 people. But there was no breakthrough.
Since September 2020, the Police Bureau Investigation of Dhaka has been probing the murder as per the decision of Police Headquarters.
Tonu's mother Anwara Begum said, "We have not been contacted by the PBI for a long time. They last talked with Tonu's father and my younger son Anwar Hossain Rubel when they visited the spot in 2020."
She said, "The hope of justice for my innocent daughter is fading. We don't know whether we will get justice before our death as both of us (parents of Tonu) are becoming sick."
PBI Inspector Mujibur Rahman, investigation officer of the case, told the media that he won't make any comment on the probe. "Senior officials will brief the media about it if necessary."
Meanwhile, teachers and students of Comilla Victoria College have demanded justice over the gruesome murder of Sohagi Jahan Tonu.
The College theatre family organized a milad mahfil on Monday remembering Tonu. Moreover, the teachers also held a protest rally on the campus.
Md Rubel Hossain, president of college theatre, deplored that Tonu's murder had not been properly investigated and there was no justice even after seven years.
Jitendranath Tarafdar, the organization's advisor and associate professor of the Culture Department, said that Tonu's murder should be properly investigated. "This is the demand of all people of the country," he said.
College Principal Professor Dr Abu Zafar Khan demanded quick completion of the investigation and a fair trial in connection with the much-talked murder.
