Tonu murder case: Ex-army Hafizur re-arrested

The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has arrested retired army personnel Hafizur Rahman again in connection with Sohagi Jahan Tonu murder case in Cumilla. 

PBI Police Super Abu Yousuf confirmed the matter on Saturday (August 8) afternoon.

He said Hafizur was arrested from his residence in Dhaka's Keraniganj on Saturday. Police made the arrest as he failed to comply with a court order, which instructed police to arrest him.

Process is underway to send him to a Cumilla court.

PBI stated that Hafizur was arrested following an order from the Chamber Judge Court to prevent him from fleeing.

Earlier on April 22, Hafizur was arrested in the Tonu murder case and sent to jail. He was later released from prison on August 4 after securing bail from the High Court.

However, the Chamber Judge Court of the Appellate Division stayed his High Court bail on August 6. The court directed him to surrender within 24 hours and ordered police to arrest him if he failed to surrender within the specified time.

On the evening of March 20, 2016, Tonu went missing after leaving home for tutoring inside Cumilla Cantonment. Her body was later found in a bush near the cantonment power house. It was initially suspected that she was raped before being killed.

The next day, her father Yaar Hossain, an office assistant at the Cantonment Board (now retired), filed a murder case against unidentified persons with Cumilla Kotwali Model Police Station.

The investigative agency PBI previously arrested Hafizur Rahman from his Keraniganj residence in Dhaka on the night of April 21 this year.

-SA