TDS Desk:

A Dhaka on Monday set March 2 as the new deadline for filing a probe report in the sensational case lodged over the murders of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi, extending the deadline for the submission of the report for the 115th time.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate GM Farhan Ishtiak passed the order, allowing a time extension plea by the prosecution.

The journalist couple was brutally murdered in their rented flat in the city’s West Rajabazar on February 11, 2012, in the presence of their (then) four-year-old son, Mahir Sarwar Megh.

Runi’s brother, Nawser Alam, filed a murder case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station.

At that time, the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) was entrusted with the investigation into the murder case, which was later transferred to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

The elite crime-busting agency failed to submit the investigation report to the court despite taking time 111 times over the last 12 years.

On September 30, 2024, the High Court ordered the formation of a high-powered task force through the Ministry of Home Affairs to probe the case, removing RAB from the charge.

The government, on October 23, 2024, formed a four-member task force to investigate the double murder.

The task force was formed through a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The notification directed the task force to submit its probe findings within six months.

The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) was named as the task force convener, although the notice did not disclose the names of the other members.

The task force also includes one representative not below the rank of an additional deputy inspector general (DIG) from Police Headquarters, one representative of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the same rank, and one representative holding the rank of RAB director.

On October 16, 2024, the High Court released the full text of its September 30 order, which had directed the transfer of authority for investigating the journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Nahar Runi murder case from the RAB to a high-powered task force formed by the Home Ministry.