The High Court on Tuesday allowed the Police Bureau of Investigation an additional six months to complete its investigation into the 2012 murder of journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi.
A bench of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Sikder Mahmudur Razi also set October 22 as the next date of hearing on the matter.
The court allowed the PBI the time, responding to a plea submitted by additional attorney general Mohammad Arshadur Rouf seeking nine more months for the PBI to complete the probe.
Arshadur informed the court that some documents related to the case had gone missing and needed to be reconstituted, for which the investigation was delayed following the ouster of the Awami League regime amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2024.
He also mentioned that the current investigation officer was new to the case and he required additional time to carry out a thorough inquiry.
The case, once under the purview of the Rapid Action Battalion, was later transferred to the PBI.
Despite repeated assurances from law enforcement over the years, the investigation has seen a little progress.
The prosecution, while asserting that progress has been made, did not present any substantive details from the investigation report during Tuesday鈥檚 hearing.
On October 17, 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs, following a directive from the High Court issued on September 30, 2024, formed a high-level task force to oversee the probe.
The investigation was initially conducted by the local police and then was successively transferred to the Detective Branch, the Criminal Investigation Department, and the Rapid Action Battalion. However, due to RAB鈥檚 prolonged inaction鈥攈aving sought time on 111 separate occasions鈥攖he High Court on September 30, 2024 directed that the PBI take over the case.
Under the court鈥檚 directive, the PBI was given six months to complete its investigation.
During recent proceedings, PBI鈥檚 current investigation officer, additional superintendent of police Azizul Haque, informed the court that important information had been uncovered through interrogations. Among those questioned were retired Major General Ziaul Ahsan, former director of RAB and ex-director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre, and Mashiur Rahman, the then deputy commissioner of the Detective Branch鈥檚 Lalbagh division.
At the time of the murders, Ziaul Ahsan had been serving as RAB鈥檚 additional director general (operations), and Mashiur Rahman had been overseeing the DB鈥檚 role in the early phase of the investigation.
On April 15, Dhaka metropolitan magistrate MA Azharul Islam extended the deadline for the submission of the probe report in the Sagar-Runi murder case until May 21 for the 117th time since beginning the investigation in 2012.
Mohammad Shishir Manir, counsel for the victims鈥� family, criticised the repeated delays, telling the court, 鈥楻epeatedly asking for extensions gives a bad impression to the public.鈥�
Despite the passage of more than a decade since the killing of Maasranga Television news editor Sagar Sarwar and ATN Bangla senior reporter Meherun Runi in their Paschim Razabazar apartment on February 11, 2012, justice remains elusive鈥攔aising serious questions about accountability and the state鈥檚 ability to deliver justice in high-profile cases.
Runi鈥檚 brother Nausher Alam filed a murder case against unidentified persons with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station in the capital.