The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) has issued separate Red Notices against two fugitive accused in the sensational Sohagi Jahan Tonu murder case in Cumilla.
The notices were issued on Tuesday following an application from the Bangladesh Police Headquarters, acting on a request from the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI).
An Assistant Inspector General (AIG)-level officer at Police Headquarters confirmed the matter.
The accused are retired army personnel Md Jahiduzzaman and Md Shaheen Alam. At the time of the incident, Jahiduzzaman was a sergeant and Shaheen Alam was a soldier (sainik) at the Cumilla Cantonment.
However, as of Wednesday evening, details regarding the Red Notices had not yet appeared on Interpol’s website.
Speaking to the Times of Bangladesh on Wednesday evening, the investigating officer of the case, PBI Inspector Tarikul Islam, confirmed that he had heard about the issuance of the Red Notices based on their application.
According to the PBI, the duo have been identified as key suspects in the case based on evidence and information gathered during the investigation. Although initiatives had been taken to collect their DNA samples during a subsequent stage of the investigation, they have absconded, and their current whereabouts remain unknown.
Meanwhile, another retired army personnel, former senior warrant officer Hafizur Rahman, was arrested in connection with the case on 21 April from his residence in Keraniganj, Dhaka. Rahman, who retired in 2023 and was stationed at the Cumilla Cantonment at the time of the murder, is currently held in Cumilla Jail.
Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a college student, went missing on the evening of 20 March 2016 after going to tutor a student at a residence inside the Cumilla Cantonment. Her body was later discovered in a bush near the cantonment’s power house, and preliminary evidence suggested she had been raped and murdered.
The following day, her father, Yaar Hossain, a then-office assistant of the Cantonment Board who has since retired, filed a murder case against unidentified suspects at the Kotwali Model Police Station in Cumilla.
Despite the gravity of the incident, the Forensic Department of Comilla Medical College Hospital failed to determine the cause of death in two autopsy reports released on 4 April and 12 June 2016. The case is currently being investigated by the PBI.
According to investigation sources, the National Central Bureau (NCB)-Dhaka of Bangladesh Police processed the request through Interpol at the PBI’s appeal to locate, identify, and arrest the fugitives under international laws. Following the verification of necessary documents and information, Interpol issued the separate Red Notices on Tuesday.
The notices will enable law enforcement organisations in Interpol member countries to assist in tracking down the suspects, after which legal actions can be initiated under respective local laws and international cooperation frameworks.
