Court orders interpol red notice for fugitives in Tonu murder case

A Cumilla court on Monday issued arrest warrants and ordered an Interpol Red Notice against two fugitives, former army Sergeant Zahiduzzaman Zahid and Soldier Shahin, in connection with the 2016 murder of college student Sohagi Jahan Tonu.

Cumilla Chief Judicial Magistrate Mominul Haque passed the order following an application by the investigation officer, Inspector Tarikul Islam of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) Dhaka. 

The court noted that both suspects are believed to be residing abroad. Inspector Mamunur Rashid of the Cumilla Court Police confirmed the judicial order to the media.

Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a theater activist and student of Victoria Government College, went missing on the evening of March 20, 2016, while returning home from tutoring in the Comilla Cantonment area. 

Her body was recovered from a forested area near the cantonment power house the following day. Her father, Yaar Hossain, filed a murder case against unidentified individuals at the Kotwali Model Police Station.

The high-profile case has been through several investigation agencies over the years, including the district detective branch and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), without a breakthrough. In October 2020, the investigation was transferred to the PBI. 

Currently, a former warrant officer named Hafizur Rahman is in custody as a suspect in the case. 

He was produced before the court on Monday for a regular hearing before being sent back to jail. 

Inspector Tarikul Islam, who took over the probe in September 2024, is the sixth investigation officer assigned to the case.