Tonu murder: Family losing hope for justice

Moreover, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) which has been entrusted with the investigation of the sensational killing case is preferring to keep mum, making victim's parents more frustrated. Yaar Ali, father of Tonu, said when 2oth day of month came, people, including media came to them to know about the update of the case and their condition, but they could not give any positive answers of their questions. He said: “Now, I can understand that eventually we will not get justice.” Tonu, 19, a second-year student of history department, and also a theatre activist, was allegedly raped and murdered inside Mainamati Cantonment in Comilla on March 20. Yaar Ali filed a case with Cantonment police station the following day. On March 28, a court ordered the exhumation of Tonu’s body for a fresh autopsy. Tonu’s body was exhumed in April, then investigators said they would conclude the case immediately. On June 7, the Criminal Investigative Department handed over the DNA report to the medical board assigned to conduct second autopsy of Tonu. The second autopsy neither determined the cause of Tonu’s death nor confirmed if she was raped, but found evidence of ‘intercourse’ before death. The first post-mortem examination on Tonu which was disclosed on April 5 had found no evidence that she had been raped before being killed and also failed to determine the cause behind her death. Tonu’s parents rejected both the autopsy reports, saying they were full of wrong information. They also alleged that law enforcement officials were trying to save the killers. “A DNA profiling found samples of three people in Tonu’s dress she was wearing when she was killed,” said Yaar Ali, adding that the CID yet to match DNA profile with anyone. Anwara Begum, mother of Tonu, said: “Nine months have passed, but police could not arrest killers. Law enforcers even could not start matching of DNA samples with killers. We want jutice for Tonu.” Investigation Officer of the case and also Assistant Police Super of Comilla CID Jamal Uddin said: “Investigation of the case is going on. We will not make any comment about a case which is still under investigation.”