FROM PAGE 14

court, a PBI official said.

Yesterday, the magistrate directed Palash to meet the investigation officer Md Azizul Haque by April 15 this year.

In the application, the investigator said Palash was arrested on October 10, 2012 but was later released on bail. He needs to be interrogated to find vital clues about the killings.

Palash yesterday remained absent by submitting an application for his non-appearance before the court.

In addition, the court yesterday extended the deadline for submitting the probe report to April 15 as IO Haque, also an additional superintendent of police at the PIB, failed to submit the report yesterday, said court police.

Sagar Sarowar was a news editor at Maasranga TV and his wife Meherun Runi was a senior reporter at ATN Bangla. They were killed in the early hours of February 11, 2012 at their rented flat in the capital’s West Rajabazar.

Their only child Mahir Sarowar Megh, who was only five at the time, was in the apartment.

After the killings, eight suspects -- Kamrul Islam alias Arun, Abu Sayeed, Rafiqul Islam, Bakul Miah, Masum Mintu, Palash Rudra Paul, Anamul Haque alias Humayun Kabir and Tanveer Rahman Khan -- were arrested. Tanveer and Palash are now out of jail, while the others are behind bars.

After the case was filed, the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station was tasked with the investigation, which was handed over to the Detective Branch (DB) of police three days later on February 16, 2012. The DB investigated the matter until April 18 of that year.

The case was transferred to the Rapid Action Battalion in April 2012. The force conducted the probe until November 3 last year.

On November 4 last year, the PIB took over the charge of investigation into the case following a High Court order.

On October 23 last year, a four-member task force was formed to investigate the case where the PBI chief was made the convener.

The task force has been asked to submit its report to the High Court within six months after completing the investigation.