8yrs into Sagar-Runi Murder: Investigation lingers on

Every time the court fixes a date for the investigation officer to submit the probe report in journalist couple Sagar-Runi murder case, the officer fails to do so. The court then sets another date for the report submission.

This has been going on for the last eight years.

The investigators could not make any headway in the sensational case, to the utter frustration of the victims’ families. Whenever the investigators are approached, they come up with the same words: “Probe is underway”.

Yesterday, the IO failed to submit the report for the 71st time. Later, a Dhaka court directed Rab, the agency dealing with the case, to inform it by March 23 about the probe progress.

Talking to The Daily Star later in the day, Rab’s Additional Superintendent Khondoker Shafiqul Alam, the current IO of the case, said, “There is no update … It [the investigation] remains where it was.”

He could not say when he would be able to file the report.

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

The couple’s only child Mahir Sarowar Megh, who was only five at the time, was in the apartment when his parents were murdered. He is now 13.

Talking to this newspaper over phone yesterday, Sagar’s 68-year-old mother, Saleha Munir, expressed utter frustration at Rab’s investigation. “If they can’t solve the case, they should hand it to another agency. They can’t prolong it this way”.

She said law enforcers cracked many cases, including the ones over the murders of Sagira Morshed 30 years ago and Feni madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi last year. “But why are we not getting justice? What is our fault?”

She also said, “Some accused in Dr Nitai murder case, including thieves and robbers, were shown arrested in the [Sagar-Runi] case, but those were nothing but eyewash. I don’t believe they have anything to do with the murders of my son and his wife. They should be released.”

She then asked, “Can’t the court fix a date for the IO to complete the investigation? Isn’t there any law for this?”

She urged the prime minister to ensure justice for Sagar and Runi.

In the last eight years, seven officers from different agencies have investigated the case. After Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police and the Detective Branch of police, Rab was tasked with the probe on April 18, 2012.

Right after the killings, the then home minister Sahara Khatun had announced the killers would be arrested within 48 hours.

Those “48 hours” never ended.

In the past, police officials had claimed to have made “significant progress” in the investigation. Investigation officers, however, did nothing but file time petitions with the court for submitting the probe report.

The slow pace of investigation in this case questions the integrity of the investigators, causing frustration to the victim families.

Relatives who are seeking justice for the couple have begun thinking that the murder case has been covered up. The family also feels that the voice of the people, in particular the journalist community, is fizzling out.

Even the High Court in November expressed disappointment as there is no significant progress in the murder probe.

The court said the success of Rab, as an elite and technologically equipped force, in combating terrorism, drugs, illegal arms and food adulteration, will fade to some extent if it cannot find and arrest the offenders behind the killing of Sagar-Runi.

At a previous hearing, IO Shafiqul told the court that they were yet to receive DNA test results from the FBI laboratory in the US. 

In November last year, the High Court ordered the investigation officer to submit a report by March 4 this year on the latest position of its investigation.

Earlier, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan had told this newspaper that law enforcers were keen to solve every case, but some might be pending for further investigation.

The minister said the Sagar-Runi case might still be pending for the lack of evidence and witnesses.

Asked, he said there was no political pressure on the law enforcement agencies to investigate the case.

At least eight people, including suspects Rafiqul Islam, Bakul Miah, Masum Mintu, Kamrul Hasan alias Arun, Abu Sayeed, and two security guards of the couple’s house Palash Rudra Paul and Enamul Hoque, and the couple’s “family friend” Tanveer Rahman had been arrested in connection with the murder.

Later, Tanveer and Palash got out of jail on bail. The others are in jail.

Meanwhile, Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) General Secretary Sohel Haider Chowdhury said it was a matter of agony that justice had not been ensured for Sagar and Runi in all these years.

“Eight years have passed and the investigators are yet to submit the probe report. So, it’s evident that the investigation is not going in the right direction,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.