The Murder of Sohagi Jahan Tonu

A student and theatre activist disappears

Sohagi Jahan Tonu studied history at Cumilla Victoria Government College and participated in theatre. On the evening of March 20, 2016, she went missing after travelling to a tutoring engagement inside Cumilla Cantonment. Her body was later found in vegetation near the cantonment's power-house area.

Her father filed a murder case against unidentified people the next day. From the beginning, the location of the killing and the absence of a clear suspect made the investigation nationally sensitive. The case passed through several agencies over the following years without producing a charge sheet or trial.

Forensic uncertainty and DNA evidence

Two autopsies did not produce a single uncontested explanation of the precise mechanism of death. That uncertainty should not be confused with uncertainty about whether Tonu was the victim of a violent crime: investigators continued to treat the case as murder, and later forensic work identified biological material from unidentified males on clothing collected as evidence.

By 2026, investigators were publicly discussing DNA profiles associated with multiple unidentified individuals. In May, the Police Bureau of Investigation said a review of laboratory material had also identified blood from another individual in addition to the previously known profiles. Those findings are investigative evidence, not proof that any named suspect committed the murder.

A decade without a trial

For years the case moved from local police to the Detective Branch, then to the Criminal Investigation Department and eventually to the Police Bureau of Investigation. By March 2026, reporting documented dozens of court dates without an arrest or trial. The lack of a completed prosecution became a central part of the public criticism surrounding the case.

In April 2026, a Cumilla court ordered investigators to compare DNA profiles recovered from Tonu's clothing with samples from three former military personnel. The order did not find those men guilty; it authorized a forensic comparison intended to test whether any of them matched biological material in evidence.

The first arrest in ten years

On April 21, 2026, the PBI arrested retired senior warrant officer Md Hafizur Rahman. The following day, a court placed him on remand for three days. Investigators collected his DNA sample and sent it for testing. It was the first arrest in the case since Tonu's death.

That arrest did not resolve the murder. Hafizur remained an accused person whose responsibility had not been established at trial. In July, a Cumilla court also authorized DNA testing of two additional people as investigators broadened the comparison work.

Warrants and Interpol assistance

In June 2026, a court ordered investigators to take steps, including seeking Interpol assistance, to locate two absconding suspects. The court also directed investigators to obtain records connected to earlier inquiries. Again, these were investigative and procedural measures; no court had convicted either person of Tonu's murder.

On July 16, a court authorized DNA collection from two more individuals so their profiles could be compared with unidentified DNA evidence. The expanding testing shows that the investigation remained active, but it also underscores that the central question of who killed Tonu had still not been answered in court.

August 2026: bail granted, then stayed

The High Court granted Hafizur Rahman interim bail on August 2, and he was released from Cumilla Central Jail on August 4. The state challenged that order. On **August 6, 2026**, the Appellate Division's chamber court stayed the High Court bail and ordered Hafizur to surrender within 24 hours, with arrest authorized if he failed to do so.

This sequence is important because bail decisions can be misunderstood as judgments on guilt or innocence. They are not. The bail dispute concerned custody while the investigation continued; there still had been no completed murder trial and no judicial finding that Hafizur or any other suspect was Tonu's killer.

What remains unresolved

The investigation has accumulated biological evidence, multiple suspects have been identified for testing, one person has been arrested, and courts have issued warrants and forensic orders. Yet the public record still lacks a final charge sheet tested through trial and a conviction establishing who killed Tonu.

For that reason, Crime by Region places this file under Unsolved / Partial. The case should remain there unless and until the investigation produces a sufficiently supported prosecutorial outcome or a court determines responsibility.

Timeline

Current status

As of August 27, 2026, the murder of Sohagi Jahan Tonu remains unsolved. The PBI investigation is active and continues to rely heavily on DNA comparison and court-authorized efforts to locate or examine suspects. No person has been convicted of the murder.

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