Court Correspondent

A Dhaka court today (Nov 18) deferred till December 23 the deadline for submitting the probe report of a case filed over the murders of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi in February 2012.

This is the 113th extension of the submission deadline.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbubul Haque passed the order.

According to court sources, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) was investigating the Sagar-Runi murder case. Later, following a petition by the plaintiff, the court ordered the formation of a task force on September 30 to expedite the investigation.

Currently, the task force is conducting the probe. As the investigation remains incomplete, the court has set December 23 as the new deadline for submitting the report. This marks the 113th time the submission of the investigation report has been delayed.

In this case, Runi’s friend Tanvir Rahman and seven others were arrested. The other arrestees include the building’s security guard Enam Ahmed alias Humayun Kabir, Rafiqul Islam, Bakul Mia, Mintu alias Bargira Mintu alias Masum Mintu, Kamrul Hasan Arun, Palash Rudra Pal, and Abu Sayeed. Among them, Tanvir and Palash Rudra are currently out on bail, while the others remain in custody.

The couple was brutally murdered in their rented apartment in West Rajabazar on February 11, 2012.

Sagar Sarowar was a broadcast news editor at Maasranga TV and Meherun Runi was a senior reporter at ATN News. Their four-year-old son Mahir Sarowar Megh was present at the apartment at the time of the murder.

Runi’s brother Nousher Alam lodged the murder case at the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station. Four days later, the investigation was handed over to Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) Detective Branch (DB).

On 18 April 2012, 62 days after they got the investigative duty, DB accepted failure. The court then instructed RAB to investigate the case.