No investigating agency could unearth the facts behind the gruesome torture and murder of Comilla Victoria College student and theatre worker Sohagi Jahan Tonu, though seven years have gone by.
The sluggish and mysterious investigation process has left Tonu's family and well-wishers in despair.
Special prayers were arranged at her house in Comilla Cantonment as well as the college campus on Monday to pray for the salvation of her departed soul.
Moreover, the teachers of the college also organized a protest rally on the college campus.
A second-year student of the History Department, Tonu went missing on March 20, 2016, after she left home for tutoring at a house inside Comilla Cantonment. Her body was later found abandoned in a bush.
The next day, Tonu's father filed a murder case against unknown assailants at Kotwali model police station.
Tonu's family members are also in a state of despair as the investigation remains sluggish.
“No one from the investigating agency has contacted us recently. There has been no progress except for the change of investigation officers,” she told Dhaka Tribune.
“Autopsies were conducted on her body twice, but the investigators could not resolve the mystery behind her death. I demand that the trial in the case be concluded before my death,” Anwara said.
Tonu remembered at Victoria College
Md Rubel Hossain, president of the college theatre, deplored the fact that Tonu's murder had not been properly investigated and there was no justice even after seven years.
Jitendranath Tarafdar, the organization's advisor and associate professor of the Culture Department, said that Tonu's murder should be properly investigated. “This is the demand of all people of the country,” he said.
College Principal Professor Dr Abu Zafar Khan demanded the quick completion of the investigation and a fair trial in connection with the much-talked-about murder.
Probe underway
Since September 2020, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has been dealing with the sensational case. The investigation officer claimed that the probe was going on following all procedures but refused to disclose details.
However, PBI Inspector Mojibur Rahman, the investigation officer of the much-talked-about case, claimed that the investigation was going on through a normal process.
"There is some progress, but it can't be revealed in the media right now," he said, adding that he had spoken to Tonu's family members, college teachers and others after the transfer of the case to the PBI.
Earlier, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Detective Branch (DB) of police and Kotwali police probed the case.
In May 2017, the CID informed the media of finding the semen of three men, who reportedly raped her before the murder, but the progress of the probe was not disclosed.
In October of the same year, the three people suspected by Tonu's mother were interrogated in Dhaka.
