The High Court has ordered the formation of a high-powered task force to investigate the murder of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi, removing the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from the probe.
The High Court bench comprising Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Muhammad Mahbub Ul Islam issued the order on Monday after hearing a petition from the state.
The court ordered the home ministry to implement this order.
The task force is to be formed with experienced investigators from various agencies and will have to submit a report to the court within six months.
Earlier, the state filed a supplementary petition requesting the removal of RAB from the investigation of the murder case.
Previously, prominent criminal law expert Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir was appointed to handle the case. On Sunday, the plaintiff, Runi’s brother Naosher Alam Roman, said that from now on, Shishir Manir would lead the legal battle to uncover the mystery behind the killings.
The submission of the investigation report in the case has been delayed 113 times so far, with the next hearing set for October 15.
On February 11, 2012, Sagar Sarowar, news editor of Maasranga Television, and his wife Meherun Runi, senior reporter at ATN Bangla, were murdered in their rented home in Dhaka.
Following the incident, Runi's brother, Naosher Alam Roman, filed a murder case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station.
Initially, the case was handled by a sub-inspector (SI) of the police station.
However, four days later, due to the sensational nature of the case, the investigation was transferred to the Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
After more than two months of investigation, DB failed to uncover any significant leads.
Consequently, on April 18 of the same year, following a directive from the High Court, the case was handed over to the Rapid Action Battalion for further investigation.
Since then, despite numerous extensions, the investigation has not been completed.
There are eight accused in the case, including Runi's friend Tanvir Rahman.
The other accused are the building's security guard Enam Ahmed alias Humayun Kabir, Rafiqul Islam, Bakul Mia, Masum Mintu, Kamrul Hasan Aru, Palash Rudra Pal and Abu Sayeed.
