The CID has interrogated two army personnel who were on duty in the Comilla Cantonment area where Sohagi Jahan Tonu’s body was found on March 20.
A team of the Criminal Investigation Department, led by Dhaka CID’s Senior Police Superintendent Abdul Kahar Akond, questioned the two men – both reportedly ranked as corporal – at the Comilla CID office yesterday afternoon.
A well-placed source in the CID also told the Dhaka Tribune that two more army members might also be interrogated later.
The Dhaka CID team arrived in the district yesterday to supervise and plan the next steps from the Comilla office.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Comilla CID’s Senior SP Dr Nazmul Karim Khan said the team from Dhaka has come to help in the ongoing investigation. However, he refused to disclose any further detail.
The six-member team from Dhaka CID visited Comilla Cantonment earlier this month and questioned Tonu’s family and other persons close to the case.
Sources said Comilla CID’s Inspector Gazi Md Ibrahim is currently investigating the death of Tonu, a second-year history student of Comilla Victoria Government College.
Meanwhile, asked about the progress on the second autopsy of Tonu, the head of Comilla Medical College forensic department Dr Kamoda Prosad Saha said more time was needed to announce the findings.
The first post-mortem of Tonu, which was performed soon after her body was found near her residence inside the Comilla Cantonment on March 20, failed to find the cause of death and determined that Tonu had not been raped before her death.
On Wednesday, the investigation officer of the case, Gazi Mohammad Ibrahim, submitted the first autopsy report to a Comilla court.
‘Atmosphere of fear’
When talking to the Dhaka Tribune, many of Tonu’s friends expressed their concerns about facing police intimidation in the name of interrogation.
Although none of them complained of facing any direct threats, they all claimed that law enforcers have created an atmosphere of fear.
Some of Tonu’s friends from school and college asked to stay anonymous fearing police reprisal, but told the Dhaka Tribune that a law enforcement agency had interrogated them for over six hours at its office.
Those law enforcers were now either phoning them or turning up at their residences every day, causing the parents to panic, Tonu’s friends said.
A member of the Comilla Victoria College Theatre also told the Dhaka Tribune that six members of the theatre group were interrogated by the Police Bureau of Investigation.
The entire situation has made everyone so fearful that there has not been regular theatre practice in recent days, the member added.
However, the theatre group’s President Rashedul Islam Jibon denied claims that any of their member was under threat.
Law enforcers were now working on the case and Tonu’s fellows in the group were waiting for the probe findings, he added.
Human chain in Bagerhat
The Bagerhat unit of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad formed a human chain in town yesterday, demanding exemplary punishment for Tonu’s killers.
Chaired by district Convener Shilpi Samaddar, speakers at the human chain said Tonu’s death has been a shame for the nation’s dignity, reports our Bagerhat correspondent.
If it was possible for killers to murder Tonu in a secured place as a cantonment, no body in the country was safe any more, speakers at the programme added.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
