Although nine years have passed since the gruesome killing of journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Mehrun Runi, motives behind the sensational double murder remain shrouded in mystery as there has been no visible progress in the probe over the years.
On February 11, 2012, Sagar Sarwar, news editor of private TV channel Maasranga, and his wife Meherun Runi, a senior reporter at ATN Bangla, were murdered brutally inside their apartment at Raja Bazar area in Dhaka.
Megh, their only son, was five-years-old when his parents were killed at home. He is now 14, but investigators could not make headway in the case till now.
The then home minister Sahara Khatun had set a 48 hours timeframe to arrest the killers of the journalist couple, hours after the gruesome incident.
Families and colleagues of the murdered journalist couple now doubt whether they will ever be able to find justice for their loved ones.
They expressed disappointment over the lack of progress by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), assigned to probe the case, and its repeated time prayers for submitting the probe report to the court.
In the last scheduled date for submitting the probe report in the case on February 3, the investigation officer of RAB again sought time to the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court that set March 11 for submitting the report.
With the latest prayer for a time extension, separate investigators have pleaded for time from the court 78 times to complete their investigation in the past nine years.
Earlier on November 11, 2019, the High Court expressed disappointment over a lack of significant progress in the investigation into the sensational murder case.
After the murder of the couple, top officials of the government as well as law enforcement agencies visited the couple’s residence and assured their families of justice.
The double murder incident had triggered a countrywide public outcry. Police, detectives and political bigwigs turned up at the couple’s residence and assured their families of justice through speedy trial.
However, investigators have kept repeating the same statement over the years, saying that “the investigation is ongoing” while the present home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, in November 2019, said they were expecting “progress” in near future.
Mursalin Nomani, president of Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU), which has led the movement demanding justice for Sagar-Runi, said: “We are not satisfied as RAB is yet to make any visible headway in the case over the years in finding out the motive of the case or the culprits who committed the crime.”
“We are in doubt whether we will ever get justice due to this long delay. We now demand immediate completion of the probe by identifying the culprits and ensuring exemplary punishment for them,” he added.
Soon after the murders, Runi’s brother Nawsher Alam filed a murder case with Sher-E-Bangla Nagar Police Station.
On April 18, 2012, the case was handed over to RAB after police and detectives failed to submit the probe report in the murder case.
Six suspects in Dr Narayan Chandra murder case were shown arrested in Sagar-Runi murder case as the physician was killed in a similar manner.
The elite force also arrested three other persons. But, none of them confessed to any involvement in the murder.
