Tonu murder suspects’ DNA reports next week

Published: June 21, 2018 17:04:25 | Updated: June 21, 2018 20:53:26

The DNA report on the suspected killers of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, who was killed in Cumilla 27 months back, will be disclosed next week.

Investigation officer of the case Jalal Uddin Ahmed said police re-interrogated many suspects for the sake of the case and the DNA report of some suspected accused will be found next week.

Tonu, a second-year history student at Cumilla Victoria College and active member of Victoria College Theatre, also worked part-time as a private tutor. She was found dead in wooded part of the Cumilla Mainamati Cantonment on March 20, 2016 after she failed to return home from one of her private tuition classes, reports UNB.

Her murder sparked a huge public outcry and people from home and abroad demanded justice.

Although twenty-seven months passed since the murder of Tonu, the investigation into the gruesome killing continues to languish without any progress.

Family members and locals expressed their anger and frustration as police have even failed to name any suspect.

Doctors at the forensic department of Cumilla Medical College Hospital conducted two autopsies on her body but their reports failed to mention any clear cause of death.

In May 2016, the CID - which was handed the case the previous month - revealed that bodily fluids (semen) of three individuals had been found on Tonu's clothes - but the public has been kept in the dark regarding any tests the agency might have done to match the DNA samples found in the clothing with any suspect.

CID officials last conducted a daylong interrogation of Tonu's father Yaar Hossain, mother Anwara Begum, cousin Laizu and brother Mizan at the CID office in Dhaka on last November 22, 2017. According to the family, it was all just about rehashing old information, and they learnt nothing new.

Some weeks prior to that, on October 25-27, CID apparently interrogated three individuals "suspected by Tonu's mother" inside the Dhaka Cantonment. CID refused however to divulge their names, indicating they may have included serving army officers stationed at the Cumilla Cantonment.

However, Tonu's mother asked the CID to interrogate Zahid and his wife in the murder case as Tonu had been found dead while heading to Zahid's residence for giving tuition on that day.

She also claimed that the name of killers will be found after the interrogation