The High Court has removed Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from the investigation into the murder of journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi that remained unsolved for over 12 years.
The court, however, ordered the formation of a high-level task force to investigate the murder case. The task force was ordered to submit the investigation report to the HC in six months. The court directed the Home Ministry to execute the decision after removing the RAB from the investigation.
The HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Muhammad Mahbub Ul Islam issued the order on Monday following a petition filed on behalf of the Home Ministry.
Deputy Attorney General Barrister Redwan Ahmed confirmed the details of the order.
During the hearing, the HC said that not completing the investigation into the Sagar-Runi murder case was shocking not only for the family of the victims but also for the nation as a whole.
Representatives of Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) may be part of the task force, said Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir, a lawyer for the complainant of the case.
Earlier on Sunday, Advocate Shishir Manir was appointed as the new lawyer for the case.
The plaintiff, Nowsher Roman, Runi’s brother, said that Mohammad Shishir Manir will now lead the legal battle to uncover the mystery behind the Sagar-Runi murder.
Advocate Shishir Manir said, “We will begin work to solve the mystery behind the murder. As part of this, we will soon hold a meeting with the investigation officers, and we will also fight the legal battle in both the lower and higher courts.”
The submission deadline of investigation report in the Sagar-Runi murder case has seen extended 113 times with the next hearing date scheduled for October 15.
On the night of February 11 in 2012, Sagar Sarowar, news editor at Maasranga Television, and Meherun Runi, senior reporter at ATN Bangla, were brutally killed in their rented apartment in West Rajabazar in Dhaka. Their only son, Mahir Sarowar Megh (then 5 years old), was present in the house at the time of the killings.
Nowsher Roman filed the murder case at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station in the capital.
Initially, the case was assigned to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station for investigation. Three days later, it was handed over to the Detective Branch (DB) of police. After DB failed to make progress, the case was transferred to RAB on April 18 in 2012.
Police arrested Tanvir Rahman in connection with the murder case on October 1 in 2012. Later, he secured bail in 2014.
The seven other suspects are Rafiqul Islam, Bakul Mia, Abu Syed, Mintu alias Baggira Mintu alias Masum Mintu, Quamrul Hasan alias Arun, security guard Enam Ahmed alias Humayun Kabir and Palash Rudra Pal.
Out of the eight people arrested in connection with the case, two were granted bail, while the others are in jail.
RAB Additional SP Khandaker Md. Shafiqul Alam was appointed as the seventh investigation officer the case on July 7 in 2019.
