Friend of Tonu’s brother returns home after going missing for 16 days, says family

A friend of murdered Comilla student Sohagi Jahan Tonu’s brother has returned after being missing for 16 days.

The family had said that Mizanur Rahman Sohag was picked from his home on Mar 27 by men, who had identified themselves as law enforcers, a week after Tonu’s body was found inside the Comilla Cantonment.

His father Nurul Islam told bdnews24.com that he found Sohag in the Nazirabazar area near the cantonment around 6:30am while on a walk in the morning.

“But he (the boy) could not say anything about where he was until then and how he got there,” said Islam, adding that his son was looking pale and depressed.

Meanwhile, police said they were unaware of the matter.

“We do not know anything about Sohag. His family did not inform us,” said local police station OC Uttam Kumar.

Tonu, a 19-year-old undergraduate student of Comilla Victoria College, was murdered near her home inside the Comilla Cantonment on Mar 20, sparking nationwide condemnation.

Sohag’s family said the boy had been picked by law enforcers on Mar 27.

His father said eight men in plain clothes, who claimed they belonged to a law-enforcing agency, had barged into their home and snatched the mobile phones of his daughter and son before whisking Sohag away in a white microbus.

Sohag’s mother Shahida Begum told reporters they had demanded that the men to show their identity cards, but they produced nothing.

RAB or police maintained they did no detain or arrest anyone called Sohag. On Mar 30, the family filed a complaint with the local police.

Tonu, the daughter of a low-salaried staff of the Cantonment Board, was found dead within a couple of hundred yards of her home inside the Comilla Cantonment.

Police are yet to make any arrests three weeks into the killing.