Police Bureau of Investigation (PIB) officers have arrested a former army member in the murder case of Cumilla Victoria Government College student Sohagi Jahan Tonu, 10 years after the case was filed. 

The suspect, Hafizur Rahman, is a retired senior warrant officer of the Bangladesh Army.

He was produced before a Cumilla court on Wednesday afternoon (April 22), and Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Mominul Haque granted a three-day remand after investigators sought seven days. 

Tonu’s brother Rubel Hossain confirmed the development.

Earlier, on April 6, the same court ordered DNA cross-matching of three suspects in connection with the case. Investigating officer Md Tariqul Islam of the PBI said DNA profiles had earlier been developed from some of Tonu’s clothing, but had never been matched with suspects. 

The three men identified for matching are all former army personnel who had been stationed at Cumilla Cantonment at the time.

Tonu went missing on the evening of March 20, 2016, after leaving for a private tuition session inside Cumilla Cantonment. Her body was later found in a wooded area near the power house inside the cantonment. The next day, her father, Yar Hossain, filed a murder case with Cumilla Kotwali Model Police Station against unidentified persons.

The case was initially investigated by local police and the Detective Branch, then by the Criminal Investigation Department, before being handed over to the PBI headquarters on October 21, 2020, on the instruction of Police Headquarters. Inspector Md Tariqul Islam took over as the latest investigating officer in September 2024.

Tonu’s father said 10 years had passed since his daughter’s killing and that he wanted to see justice before he died.