Retired army personnel Hafizur Rahman was sent to jail on Saturday after the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) arrested him in connection with the 2016 murder of Sohagi Jahan Tonu in Comilla.
Hafizur was arrested from his home in Keraniganj, Dhaka, and taken before Comilla Senior Judicial Magistrate Court-5. Judge Tayeb Uddin later ordered that he be sent to jail.
PBI Inspector and case investigation officer Tarikul Islam confirmed the arrest.
He said Hafizur was taken into custody to prevent him from leaving the country and to enforce an order issued by an Appellate Division chamber court.
The development came after the Appellate Division stayed Hafizur’s High Court bail order.
The High Court had granted him bail on August 2, and he was released from Comilla Central Jail on August 4.
The state later filed a leave-to-appeal petition against the bail order.
On August 6, Appellate Division Chamber Judge Justice Md Rezaul Haque stayed the High Court order until August 9 and directed Hafizur to surrender within 24 hours.
The court also instructed law enforcement agencies to arrest him if he failed to surrender.
According to Comilla Court Police Inspector Sadequr Rahman and Comilla Central Jail Senior Jail Superintendent Shah Alam Khan, Hafizur had not surrendered by the deadline on Friday evening.
Tonu, a history student at Comilla Victoria Government College and a theatre activist, went missing on March 20, 2016, while on her way to a private tutoring session inside Comilla Cantonment.
Later that night, her body was found in a bush near the cantonment’s power house.
Her father, Iyar Hossain, filed a murder case with Kotwali Model Police Station the following day, naming unidentified persons as the accused.
As part of the investigation, the PBI first arrested Hafizur from Keraniganj on the night of April 21.
