Rab asked to gear up Sagar-Runi murder probe

Irked by slow progress in probing the murder of journalist couple -- Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi -- a Dhaka court today directed Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) to gear up the investigation.
It asked the investigating agency to immediately record the statements of Mahir Sarowar Megh, only son of the slain couple, Runi’s mother and brother as witnesses.
The elite force has also been directed to immediately produce the trio before magistrates for recording their statements.   
Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Kumar Dey passed the order after Investigation Officer Wares Ali, also an assistant superintendent of police of Rab, submitted a progress report on the investigation.    
The order came as the IO was yet to quiz and record their statements as witnesses. Moreover, they are vital witnesses to identify the culprits and prove the charges against those responsible for committing such offences.
The court also directed the Rab official to seize mobile sets of guards of the house where the journalist couple lived and interrogate those journalists with whom the couple worked to gather information about the murder, the magistrate said.    
In the progress report, the IO said he needs more time to complete the investigation properly and he would submit the report as early as possible.
After the hearing, the magistrate asked the IO to submit the probe report by November 2.
Sagar Sarowar, news editor of private TV station Maasranga, and his wife Meherun Runi, senior reporter of another channel, ATN Bangla, were killed at their rented flat in the capital's West Rajabazar on February 11, 2012.

Their only son Mahir Sarowar Megh, then five, was at home at that time.
Detective Branch (DB) of police was first tasked with probing the twin murder. It detained four suspects and interrogated some 40 people.
Frustrated with the DB's performance, the High Court in April 2012 handed over the case to Rab.
In October 2012, the then home minister announced a bounty of Tk 10 lakh for helping law enforcers nab Humayun Kabir, the guard at Sagar-Runi's residence, who was on the run since the murders.
Humayun was arrested on February 9 last year, but there has been no ‘progress’ in the case since then.