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Rapid Action Battalion, who were assigned to investigate the same case, failed to identify the killers and submit a full-fledged investigation report to the courts concerned.
Sagar Sarwar, news editor of private television channel Maasranga, and his wife, Meherun Runi, senior reporter at ATN Bangla, were murdered in their rented flat in West Rajabazar on February 11, 2012.
Runi’s brother filed a murder case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station the following day, without naming any suspects.
Hours after the gruesome murders, the then home minister Sahara Khatun, now deceased, had announced to arrest the killers in 48 hours. More than 14 years have passed since then, but investigation into the case has yet to find headway.
Contacted, Investigation Officer Md Azizul Haque, also an additional superintendent of police at the PBI, earlier told this correspondent that investigation into the case is ongoing, but declined to provide further details.
Earlier this month, a Dhaka court on April 1 deferred the submission of the investigation report in the case for the 125th time, as the IO failed to do so on that day.
The court also set May 7 as the new date for submission.
Contacted, Additional Attorney General Md Arshadur Rouf said he did not know the progress of the taskforce’s investigation into the case.
The progress report will be submitted before the HC on the scheduled date, he added.
Mohammad Shishir Manir, lawyer for the complainant of Sagar-Runi murder case, said, “The HC has extended time twice. However, the taskforce couldn’t complete the investigation. We are waiting for the next date of report submission by the taskforce authority.”
Earlier, on October 23 last year the HC blasted the taskforce for failing to submit its full-fledged probe report in the case.
“Thirteen years have passed since two people [Sagar and Runi] were murdered. Who killed them? Nothing could be known. Even the investigation into this case has not been completed yet. People all over the country are looking at this case. How many more years will it take to complete the investigation?” the HC bench of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Fatema Anwar told the state counsel and the taskforce representative.
The HC bench, however, granted six months’ time to the taskforce for the last time to complete the investigation and submit its report.
Previously, the HC on April 22 last year granted the taskforce an additional six months to complete the investigation and submit its report.
On September 30, 2024, another HC bench led by Justice Farah Mahbub, now a judge of the Appellate Division, had ordered the home ministry to transfer the case’s investigation responsibility from the Rab and constitute a taskforce. The order was made following a government petition filed seeking modification of a previous HC order on transferring the case from the DB to Rab.
The taskforce was directed to complete the investigation and submit a report to the court within six months. That deadline expired on March 31 last year.
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operational expenses. We believe it is now time to adjust transport fares.”
“Considering all factors, we have presented our cost structure, which currently stands at 28 paisa per kilometre,” he added.
Meanwhile, in a statement yesterday, Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, secretary general of the Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association, alleged that bus and launch owners were pushing for an unjustified fare hike by 64 percent and 42 percent respectively, and some officials were siding with them, while passenger representatives were excluded from the decision-making process.
He said past fare hikes in 2022 were only partially rolled back when diesel prices fell, with passengers not benefiting due to weak monitoring.
He argued that the recent Tk 15 increase in diesel prices does not justify the proposed fare hikes, warning of protests if rates rise by more than 15 paisa per kilometer.