Transfer the probe from Rab to a special unit

The Supreme Court expressed its deep concern over the failure of the Rapid Deployment Battalion to solve the murder case of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi, which has been unsolved for twelve years.

“The long delay in the investigation is both regrettable and shocking, affecting not only her family but the nation as a whole,” Justices Farah Mahbub and Muhammad Mahbub Ul Islam remarked at a recent hearing.

In response to a petition, the court ordered the Interior Ministry to hand over Rab’s case to a high-level task force made up of experienced employees from various agencies.

This task force will complete the investigation and submit a report to the HC within six months.

The court set April 6, 2025 for further hearings on the matter. This order followed a petition filed by the government on September 29 seeking to modify an earlier HC order dated April 18, 2012, which had transferred the case from the police crime branch to RAB.

Since then, Rab has been unable to complete the investigation and has requested extensions from the first instance court 113 times.

During the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Aneek R. Haque told the court that Rab lacks the necessary experience and expertise to investigate criminal cases as it primarily functions as an operational unit.

He pointed out that pressure from the “undemocratic” government of Sheikh Hasina hampered the RAB’s ability to conduct a thorough investigation.

The task force could include representatives from the police investigation bureau and criminal investigation department, said Mohammad Shishir Manir, the complainant’s lawyer in the case.

Sagar Sarowar, the news editor of private television channel Maasranga, and his wife Meherun Runi, a senior reporter at ATN Bangla, were killed on February 11, 2012, at their rented apartment in West Rajabazar while their five-year-old son, Mahir Sarowar Megh, was at home.

Runi’s brother, Nawsher Alam Roman, filed a murder complaint at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station without naming a suspect. After initial investigations by the police and criminal police, RAB took over the case on April 18, 2012.

On September 9 this year, a court in Dhaka ordered Rab to submit the investigation report by October 15, another extension in a long series of delays. Previous court hearings showed dissatisfaction with Rab’s handling of the investigation and his failure to determine the motive for the murder or catch the perpetrators.

Nawsher expressed frustration with Rab’s investigative methods, saying they had subjected him and his nephew to psychological distress.

He appealed to journalists to request any documents that could help shed light on the case.