The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), while probing the murder case of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, has found evidence of a fourth man’s blood in DNA samples.
Earlier, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had informed the media that DNA tests on samples collected from Tonu’s clothing found semen from three men. However, the PBI, which is now investigating the case, says a fresh review of DNA evidence has identified blood belonging to another unidentified man.
PBI Dhaka office Inspector Tarikul Islam confirmed the matter on Sunday night.
“We already had information about semen from three men. Now, the DNA lab has provided us with evidence belonging to another man,” the investigating officer said.
According to the PBI, on April 6, it sought court permission to cross-match DNA samples of three suspects — retired army sergeant Zahid, warrant officer Hafizur Rahman, and soldier Shahinul Alam.
Following a court order, Hafizur was detained from his Keraniganj residence in Dhaka on the night of April 21. He was later shown arrested in the Tonu murder case, taken to Dhaka for DNA sample collection, and produced before a Comilla court the following day. The court granted him a three-day remand.
A report prepared by Nusrat Yasmin, a DNA examiner at the CID’s DNA Laboratory of Bangladesh Police, said 24 pieces of evidence were sent for forensic examination in connection with the murder. These included Tonu’s clothes, undergarments, teeth, vaginal swab, tape, a torn pair of men’s shoes, a ballpoint pen and a piece of cloth. The remaining samples were DNA profiles of 13 suspects.
The report stated that semen was detected on Tonu’s scarf, salwar and underwear, where complete DNA profiles of three different men were found.
It also noted that blood was detected on a piece of cloth, from which investigators obtained a complete DNA profile of an unidentified person. The report said the DNA profile did not match the semen samples recovered from the clothing items.
Sources involved in the investigation said the discovery of another man’s blood has led to further progress in the case, which is being monitored at the highest levels of the government.
Inspector Tarikul Islam said the investigation has made “significant progress,” though details cannot yet be disclosed. He added that DNA samples from three more individuals would now need to be cross-matched. According to him, DNA from one suspect, Hafizur, has already been collected.
On March 20, 2016, Tonu, a history student at Comilla Victoria Government College, went to a house inside Comilla Cantonment to tutor students but never returned home. Later that night, her body was found in a nearby jungle close to the cantonment power house.
The following day, her father filed a murder case with Comilla Kotwali Model police station against unidentified persons. The case was initially investigated by local police, district detectives and later the CID, but no breakthrough was made.
In May 2017, the CID disclosed that DNA tests on Tonu’s clothing had found semen from three men.
Later, on October 21, 2020, the CID handed over the case files to the PBI headquarters in Dhaka on instructions from the Police Headquarters.
Inspector Md Tarikul Islam took charge as the sixth investigating officer in September 2024.
