Dhaka: The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has instructed former Army officer Hafizur Rahman to surrender within 24 hours concerning the murder of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a student of Cumilla Victory College. This directive was issued by Chamber Judge Justice Md Rezaul Haque after suspending Hafizur’s bail, which had been previously granted by the High Court.

According to United News of Bangladesh, the court has mandated police to arrest Hafizur if he fails to comply with the surrender order within the specified time frame. Hafizur had been granted anticipatory bail by the High Court on August 2, allowing him to be released from jail on Tuesday. However, the state promptly filed a petition challenging this bail decision, leading to the Supreme Court’s recent order.

Hafizur, who served as a senior warrant officer in the Bangladesh Army, was apprehended by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) on April 22, 2026, in Dhaka. The arrest was linked to the unresolved murder of Tonu, a second-year history student at Victoria College. Tonu disappeared on March 20, 2016, after leaving for a private tutoring session inside Cumilla Cantonment. Her body was discovered later in a nearby forest area, leading her father, Yar Hossain, to file a murder case at the Cumilla Kotwali Model Police Station.

The investigation into Tonu’s murder has been transferred multiple times, moving from local police to the Detective Branch, then to the Criminal Investigation Department, and eventually to the PBI. Despite these changes, significant progress in the case remains elusive.