Sagar-Runi murder: Probe report submission deferred for 130th time
The investigation report was scheduled to be submitted today. However, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), which is currently handling the investigation, failed to submit it, prompting the court to set a new deadline.
The deadline for submitting the investigation report in the murder case of journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi has been deferred to 5 November, marking the 130th time the date has been postponed.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ariful Islam set the new date after a hearing today (30 September).
The investigation report was scheduled to be submitted today. However, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), which is currently handling the investigation, failed to submit it, prompting the court to set a new deadline.
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Rafiqul Islam, sub-inspector of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's prosecution department, confirmed the matter.
Sagar Sarwar, news editor at private television channel Maasranga TV, and Meherun Runi, a senior reporter at ATN Bangla, were killed on 11 February 2012 at their rented flat in West Rajabazar, Dhaka.
At the time of the incident, their four-and-a-half-year-old son, Mahir Sarwar Megh, was at home. Runi's brother, Nausher Alam Roman, later filed a murder case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station.
The accused in the case are Rafiqul Islam, Bakul Mia, Masum Mintu, Kamrul Islam alias Arun, Abu Sayeed, two security guards at Sagar and Runi's residence—Palash Rudra Pal and Enayet Ahmed—and their "friend" Tanvir Rahman Khan.
Tanvir and Palash are currently out on bail, while the others are in custody, according to the case records. Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police initially investigated the case. The investigation was later handed over to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch before the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) took charge.
On 30 September last year, the High Court ordered that the investigation be transferred from RAB to a high-powered task force to be formed through the Ministry of Home Affairs.
A High Court Division bench comprising Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Mohammad Mahbub Ul Islam issued the order, directing that the murder case be investigated by a high-powered task force formed through the ministry.
On 23 October last year, the government formed a four-member task force to investigate the murders in line with the High Court's directive. The head of the PBI was appointed convener of the task force.
