Sohagi Jahan Tonu

The Criminal Investigation Department could not find any suspect in the Sohagi Jahan Tonu murder case to cross-match the DNA samples collected from the victim's clothes four months ago.

Therefore, the arrest of anyone involved in the sensational murder on March 20 has remained a far-away thing, frustrating Tonu's family. 

In May when CID officials said DNA test results had found three spermatozoa on Tonu's clothes and that she had been raped before her murder, the family started hoping for justice.    

Investigators also said they would soon seek court's permission for matching DNA samples with the suspects'.

They are yet to make an appeal to the court.

Jalal Uddin, assistant superintendent of the CID tasked with the probe recently, said they had not appealed for the court's permission as they were yet to identify any suspect.

“Whenever we will be able to identify suspects, we will submit a prayer to the court to cross-match the DNA samples,” he told a correspondent in Comilla.

But on May 16, Nazmul Karim Khan, the then special superintendent of the CID, Noakhali-Comilla division, said the probe team had shortened the list of suspects and “now we will see if the samples match with the DNA of any suspect."

The CID official was transferred on July 25.

CID officials said Tonu's family members had named some people as suspects but could not give any specific reason as to why they suspected them.

Tonu, a second-year history student of Comilla Victoria College and a theatre activist, was found murdered inside the Comilla Cantonment on March 20.

Two autopsies could not determine the cause of her death though her father Yaar Hossain, who first spotted the body in a bush, saw the back of his daughter's head smashed and injury marks on her nose.

The police inquest report did not cite any sign of injury.

The delay of arresting the killers frustrated the family.

Talking to The Daily Star by phone, Tonu's mother Anwara Begum said, “As one more month passed, we became more concerned about getting justice. The investigators only say that they have been looking into it [the murder].”

“My daughter was killed. They [murderers] took away my daughter …. If we get justice, we get some solace.”

She sought the prime minister's intervention in the matter to ensure justice for the girl.