Police grill three ‘friends’ of slain Comilla college student Tonu

The CID have questioned three students of Comilla Victoria Government College in the Sohagi Jahan Tonu murder case.

Police said they were friends of the 19-year-old student murdered inside Comilla Cantonment on the night of Mar 20.

District CID’s Additional SP Pranab Kumar Roy said ‘Khokan’, ‘Bappy’, and ‘Sarwar’ were grilled at their office on Wednesday.

He said the three were theatre activists, but did not give details regarding their identities and did not say which departments they were from.

Tonu was a history department student at Victoria Government College. Her father Yaar Hossain is an employee of the Comilla Cantonment Board. The family lives in quarters within the cantonment.

It was suspected that Tonu was raped before being killed.

However, Comilla Medical College Hospital doctors conducted two autopsies, but in their reports failed to determine whether she was raped.

In the first autopsy report, they had said no any evidence of rape was found, and they failed to determine the cause of death.

A second post-mortem examination was conducted amidst nationwide outrage and intense criticism and the issuance of a court order.

Before the second test report was published, the CID said they had found through DNA tests proof of Tonu’s having been subjected to rape.

The second autopsy report revealed that she had ‘sexual intercourse before death’, but could not confirm whether she was raped.

The cause of death was also not determined, said the forensic experts, as they claimed the examination ‘on the highly decomposed body was conducted 10 days after the murder’.

Tonu’s family rejected both reports, while the CID questioned the ambiguous second autopsy report.

On Wednesday, after questioning Tonu’s ‘friends’, the CID officials spoke with her parents and the locals again.

Tonu’s mother Anwara Begum, who recently alleged that her husband was under surveillance, told bdnews24.com that the officials again assured them that they would be able to catch the killers very soon.

“CID’s Nazmul sir (Special SP Nazmul Karim Khan) has said that we have nothing to be afraid of. He will talk to everyone. He also asked me to inform him if anyone obstructs us from going anywhere.”

At a protest rally in Comilla on Monday, Begum had said, “Don’t you know her (Tonu’s) father is being kept confined? He has been told to speak to no one.”

She said she wanted to know from the government and everyone else why he had been thus ordered. “He does not speak against the government. Can’t Tonu’s father seek justice?”