Ex-Army personnel released on bail in Tonu murder case

Hafizur Rahman, former senior warrant officer at Bangladesh Army, walked out of the Cumilla Central Jail on Tuesday evening after the High Court granted him bail in the Tonu rape-murder case.

The jail’s Senior Jail Superintendent Shah Alam Khan confirmed Hafizur’s release, saying the jail authorities let him go after receiving the High Court’s bail papers.

On 2 August, the High Court bench of Justice Zafar Ahmed and Justice Shathika Hossain granted the six-month ad-interim bail, and also asked the state to explain why Hafizur should not get permanent bail.

On 22 April, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) arrested the former army personnel from his residence in Dhaka, and the next day, produced him before the court.

His DNA sample was also collected following the arrest.

A Cumilla court later granted three-day remand for quizzing Hafizur, and upon completion of the remand period sent him to jail.

He had remained in jail since 25 April.

Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a student of Cumilla Victoria Government College, was raped and murdered while she was returning home from tuition at the Cumilla Cantonment on 20 March 2016.