For the first time in the decade-old murder case of Sohagi Jahan Tanu, investigators have arrested a suspect. The detainee, Hafizur Rahman, 52, a retired senior warrant officer of the Bangladesh Army, was taken into custody by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) from his home in Keraniganj on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Hafizur was produced before the Senior Judicial Magistrate Court in Cumilla, where investigators sought a seven-day remand. The court granted three days of remand for questioning. Tanu’s parents and brother were present during the court proceedings.
According to investigators, Hafizur was serving at the Cumilla Cantonment at the time of the killing in 2016. Earlier this month, the investigation officer informed the court about progress in the case and sought permission to match DNA samples from three suspects believed to have possible links to the crime. Hafizur was one of those three individuals. The other two are also retired military personnel who were posted in the cantonment at the time.
PBI Inspector Md. Tarikul Islam, the investigation officer, said Hafizur would be questioned during remand and that the DNA testing process would follow.
Tanu, a history student of Cumilla Victoria Government College and a theater activist, went missing on the evening of March 20, 2016, after going to a private tutoring session inside Cumilla Cantonment. Her body was later found in the area. The following day, her father, Yar Hossain, filed a murder case against unknown persons at Cumilla Kotwali Model Police Station.
The case has remained one of Bangladesh’s most discussed unresolved killings. Over the years, multiple investigations were carried out, while forensic findings and DNA evidence remained central to efforts to identify those responsible. Investigators had earlier said biological evidence recovered from Tanu’s clothing indicated the presence of DNA from three men.
The arrest of Hafizur Rahman marks the first major breakthrough in the case after ten years, as investigators move forward with renewed efforts to determine responsibility for the killing.