Retired army personnel Hafizur Rahman was re-arrested on Saturday in the murder case of Cumilla college student Sohagi Jahan Tonu after he failed to surrender before the court within the deadline set by the Appellate Division.
The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) arrested Hafizur from his residence in Keraniganj, Dhaka, said PBI Inspector Tariqul Islam, the investigation officer in the case.
“He was arrested to prevent him from fleeing and to enforce the directive of the Appellate Division’s Chamber Court,” Tariqul said.
Hafizur was taken to the Senior Judicial Magistrate’s Court in Cumilla at around 3:30pm. Later, Judge Tayyab Uddin of Cumilla’s Court-5 ordered that he be sent to jail.
Hafizur had been released from Cumilla Central Jail on 4 August after securing bail from the High Court on 2 August.
The state subsequently filed a leave-to-appeal petition seeking a stay on the High Court’s bail order.
On 6 August, Appellate Division Chamber Judge Justice Md Rezaul Haque stayed the High Court’s bail order until 9 August and directed Hafizur to surrender before the court within 24 hours.
The court also directed law enforcement agencies to arrest him if he failed to surrender within the stipulated time.
Hafizur did not surrender by Friday evening, the deadline set by the court, said Sadequr Rahman, inspector of the Cumilla court police, and Shah Alam Khan, senior jail superintendent of Cumilla Central Jail.
Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a history student of Cumilla Victoria Government College and a theatre activist, went missing on the night of 20 March, 2016, after leaving to tutor students inside Cumilla Cantonment.
Her body was recovered that night from bushes near the cantonment’s power house.
She was allegedly raped before being murdered, according to the initial findings.
The following day, her father, Yar Hossain, filed a murder case against unidentified people with Cumilla Kotwali Model Police Station.
During the investigation, the PBI arrested retired army personnel Hafizur Rahman from his Keraniganj residence on the night of 21 April this year.
The case remains under investigation.
