A court has granted bail to Sona Mia, who became a victim of a real-life ‘Aynabaji’ identity swap allegedly carried out by Rohingya refugee Ramzan Ali.
Sona Mia had been counting his final days in prison after being arrested with 190,000 yaba tablets and later sentenced to death by a court. Ramzan Ali allegedly used Sona Mia’s identity details to evade justice, leaving Sona Mia to face the consequences.
Cox’s Bazar District Bar Association President Md Abdul Mannan and Cox’s Bazar District Jail Superintendent Md Obaidur Rahman said Sona Mia was released on bail under four conditions. He was released from Cox’s Bazar District Jail at around 11am on Friday.
According to them, the judge of Cox’s Bazar District and Sessions Court granted Sona Mia bail on Thursday. The bail order reached the jail authorities that evening.
Lawyer Abdul Mannan said Sona Mia was granted bail on the conditions that he submit his National Identity Card (NID) or passport to the court, appear every Tuesday, not change his address and not sell his homestead or land.
“I filed an application and the court passed this order. I have decided to handle the case myself as Sona Mia’s lawyer,” he said.
The Bar Association president also said police had been instructed to quickly identify and arrest the actual accused in the case and produce him before the court.
How the incident began
The incident originated on 2 March 2020, when five people were arrested with 190,000 yaba tablets during an operation by Cox’s Bazar District Detective Branch (DB) police.
In the case filed by police after the drug seizure, Sona Mia was named as the second accused. His father’s name was mentioned as Najir Ahmad, his current address as Kutubdiapara under Ward 1 of Cox’s Bazar Municipality and his permanent address as Garjania in Ramu upazila.
The FIR stated that the name and identity of Sona Mia were used based on a photocopy of a birth registration certificate found with the person arrested during the operation.
According to court documents, the investigation officer of the case, then DB Inspector Manas Barua, submitted the charge sheet to the court in September 2020.
The charge sheet stated that police from Cox’s Bazar Sadar and Ramu police stations investigated the name and address of accused number two. The investigation found that the name and address provided by ‘Sona Mia’ were incorrect.
The investigation officer mentioned in the charge sheet that since the accused’s name and address could not be verified, he requested that the person be kept in jail until completion of the trial.
According to court records, the alleged ‘Sona Mia’ was granted bail by Cox’s Bazar District and Sessions Court on 13 June 2022. After securing bail, he went into hiding and became a fugitive.
In February 2026, the court sentenced five accused, including ‘Sona Mia’, to death in the case. Following the verdict, RAB-15 arrested ‘Sona Mia’ on 23 June based on a warrant issued by a senior warrant officer.
Although RAB arrested the person using Sona Mia’s birth registration details, the real accused, Ramzan Ali, remained out of reach.
After being sent to jail, the arrested Sona Mia told the jail superintendent that he was not an accused in the case. He said he learned only after arriving at the prison that he had been sentenced to death in a drug case.
The matter was forwarded from Cox’s Bazar District Jail to the District and Sessions Court and then to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Model Police Station.
A police investigation later found that the ‘Sona Mia’ arrested with yaba in 2020 and the Sona Mia arrested after the death sentence in 2026 were not the same person.
Cox’s Bazar Sadar Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Sheikh Mohammad Ali also confirmed the matter.
Following a court order, Cox’s Bazar Sadar Police submitted a fresh investigation report. The report said the person arrested with 190,000 yaba tablets in 2020 was actually Ramzan. He had used another person’s birth registration certificate to identify himself as Sona Mia.
However, the trial continued against him under the name ‘Sona Mia’, and he was later sentenced to death.
How the ‘Aynabaji’ happened
Following the court’s order, Sadar Police submitted a new report on 2 July. The report said the person arrested with yaba in 2020 and the Sona Mia arrested on 23 June 2026 were not the same person.
It said the person arrested in 2020 had concealed his identity by using Sona Mia’s birth registration certificate. His real name was Ramzan Ali.
According to the police report, Ramzan and Sona Mia lived in the same Rohingya camp at the same time. Later, after leaving the camp, they lived together in the same house in Kutubdiapara area of Cox’s Bazar town.
At some point, Sona Mia’s birth registration card remained with Ramzan. The report said Ramzan used a photocopy of that birth registration certificate to introduce himself as Sona Mia.
There were also major discrepancies between the jail records from the two periods.
The person arrested in 2020 was recorded as the son of late Najir Ahmad, with his mother’s name listed as Sonara Begum and wife’s name as Ayesha. He had two sons and two daughters. His height was recorded as 5 feet 3 inches and weight as 50kg. Identification marks included scars on both cheeks and the right arm.
On the other hand, although the father’s name of Sona Mia arrested on 23 June 2026 was also recorded as late Najir Ahmad, his mother’s name was Mahmuda Khatun and his wife’s name was Jannatul Ferdous. He had one son and three daughters. His height was recorded as 5 feet 1 inch and weight as 42kg. Identification marks included moles on his right arm, the left side of his abdomen and the middle of his back.
Questions over bail process
The incident has raised questions over the investigation and bail process. Questions have emerged over how a person using Sona Mia’s identity was granted bail and later sentenced to death when the investigation officer had already mentioned in the charge sheet that the name and address were incorrect.
Cox’s Bazar District Bar Association President Md Abdul Mannan told journalists that there appeared to have been serious negligence by the investigation officer from the beginning of the case until the submission of the charge sheet.
“Verifying the identity of a person who uses someone else’s birth registration certificate is the responsibility of the investigation officer. But in this case, the charge sheet was submitted without identifying the actual person,” he said.
He said the investigation also failed to establish that Sona Mia’s real name was Ramzan. As a result, the actual accused secured bail and went into hiding, while the real Sona Mia was later identified, arrested and sent to jail.
“This is a very serious matter,” he added.
What the investigation officer and RAB said
Manas Barua, the then investigation officer and currently the officer-in-charge of Ruma Police Station in Bandarban, said the actual identity of the accused could not be verified during the investigation.
“We submitted the charge sheet based on that. Since the accused had provided a false identity, I requested that he remain in jail and that the trial process continue,” he said.
RAB-15 Assistant Director (Law and Media) and Assistant Superintendent of Police A M Faruk said RAB arrested the accused based on the warrant issued by the court.
He said the identity of the accused was confirmed after verifying the name and address.
“RAB arrested Sona Mia according to the name and address provided by the court,” he said.
