DHAKA, Oct 16, 2024 (BSS) – The High Court (HC) today released the full text of its September 30 order that had directed to shift the authority of probing the journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi murder case from the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to a high-powered taskforce to be formed by the Home Ministry.
A High Court division bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Muhammad Mahbub Ul Islam passed the judgment, asking to complete the investigation and submit a report to the HC within six months. The court came up with the judgment after hearing a state petition seeking modification of the order on a writ demanding an investigation afresh into the Sagar-Runi murder case.
The HC in its order said, “The delay in the Sagar-Runi murder case trial is a matter of regret not only for the family members (of the Sagar-Runi), but also for every citizen of the country. Hope, justice will be ensured this time. The six-month time given for the probe means six months,” the court said.
Supreme Court lawyer Manzil Murshid had moved the plea before the court. At the same time, Additional Attorney Generals Arshadur Rauf and Aneek Rushd Haque and Deputy Attorney General Redwan Ahmed Ranjib argued for the state. Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir stood for the plaintiff.
The journalist couple was brutally murdered at their rented flat at city’s West Rajabazar on February 11, 2012 in the presence of their (then) four-year old son Mahir Sarwar Megh.
Runi’s brother Nawser Alam filed a murder case with Sher-e-Banglanagar Police Station.
At that time, Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) was entrusted with the charge of investigation into the murder case which was later transferred to the RAB. The elite crime busting agency has failed to submit the investigation report in the court after taking time of 111 times for the last 12 years.
