Sagar-runi murder case: HC gives task force 6 months to submit probe report
The High Court yesterday granted the government-formed task force an additional six months to complete the investigation into the murders of journalists Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi in 2012 and to submit its report.
The HC bench of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Sikder Mahmudur Razi passed the order after Additional Attorney General Mohammad Arshadur Rouf sought nine months to complete the probe.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. He informed the court that several officials involved in the investigation had been changed or transferred over the years, delaying progress.
Moreover, forensic evidence related to the case has been sent to the United States, and the task force is waiting for the report.
Therefore, more time is required to complete the investigation, he added.
The High Court has fixed October 22 for further hearing on the issue.
On September 30 last year, another HC bench led by Justice Farah Mahbub — now a judge of the Appellate Division — ordered the home ministry to transfer the investigation responsibility from the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and to constitute a high-powered task force.
The task force was tasked with completing the investigation and submitting a report to the High Court within six months.
That deadline expired on March 31 this year.
The bench had issued that order in response to a government petition filed on September 29 last year, which sought modification of a previous HC directive from April 18, 2012. That directive had ordered the inspector general of police to transfer the case from the Detective Branch of police to Rab.
However, Rab failed to complete the probe and has sought time extensions from trial courts 118 times.
On Sunday, Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir, principal lawyer for the complainants in the Sagar-Runi murder case, informed the HC bench led by Justice Fatema Najib of the expired deadline and sought necessary orders.
On Saturday, Additional Inspector General of Police and Chief of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) Md Mustafa Kamal, who is leading the task force, told The Daily Star that their investigation has yet to make any headway into the murder case.
Meanwhile, the PBI headquarters yesterday issued a statement refuting media reports that claimed the additional attorney general, in his submission to the HC, mentioned a fire incident that destroyed some files kept by the Detective Branch related to the case.
Sagar Sarwar, the news editor of private TV channel Maasranga, and his wife, Meherun Runi, a senior reporter at ATN Bangla, were brutally murdered in their rented flat in West Rajabazar on February 11, 2012. Their five-year-old son, Mahir Sarowar Megh, was at home during the incident.
Runi's brother, Nawsher Alam Roman, filed a murder case with the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station the following day, without naming any suspects.
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