Staff Correspondent

The family of couple Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi have filed a written complaint to the International Crimes Tribunal over their murders.

Runi’s brother Nausher Alam Roman filed the petition on behalf of the family on Sunday.

The complaint filed with the tribunal’s chief prosecutor states that on Feb 11, 2012, between approximately 2am and 7am, Maasranga Television’s news editor Golam Mostafa Sarwar aka Sagar Sarwar and ATN Bangla’s senior correspondent Meherun Nahar aka Meherun Runi were brutally murdered in a rented house in Dhaka’s West Rajabazar.

Though 14 years have passed, the government and investigative agencies have not been able to solve the murder.

The complaint further states that after the police, Detective Branch and Rapid Action Battalion failed to solve the mystery, a high-powered task force was formed by order of the High Court and is investigating the case. The task force is being led by the Police Bureau of Investigation, or PBI.

Despite nearly two years having passed since the formation of the task force, they have not been able to make the slightest progress in the investigation, the complaint claims.

The family says it wants the International Crimes Tribunal to find the murderers and those responsible through a fair and proper investigation, to bring them to justice, and to ensure exemplary punishment for the guilty.

The complaint has been registered in the complaint register and a request has been made to take legal action after proper investigation of the incident as a crime against humanity in accordance with Section 8 of the International Crimes Tribunal Act, 1973.

On Aug 30, the International Day for the Prevention of Enforced Disappearances, new information on the incident was presented at a press conference organised by the Tribunal.

The family took the initiative to file a complaint with the tribunal after possible suspects in the murders came to light during the tribunal’s investigation.

At that press conference, the ICT Prosecutor Tanvir Zoha said that the electronic device of former RAB Director General Ziaul Ahsan, which was seized in a case by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), was later seized by the tribunal’s investigation agency. Various documents and server information from 2007 to Ahsan’s release have been found on these devices, and some deleted files have also been recovered.

After analysing this information, he said that three to four suspects have been identified in the double murder of Sagar and Runi.

Tanvir said that one person has also been questioned in this regard. Citing information obtained during the interrogation, he said that the former RAB director general was told between 10pm and 11pm the day before the murders that a “nationally important event” would take place the next day and that he would have to be present there.

The murders came to light the next morning. He also said that the investigation had found information that the murder may be tied to any sensitive documents, disks, tapes or memory-related matters related to the government or the media of that time.

The tribunal’s Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam had said at the time that the complaint would be accepted if it fell within the jurisdiction of the tribunal. He also said that the investigation had revealed a possibility of a “connection” between the murder and a cultural figure and that the possibility of a military or RAB officer being involved was also being investigated.

The couple’s son Mahir Sarwar Megh expressed optimism that new information had come to light after a long time.

“I want a proper trial to be held. And I don’t want any false or wrong suspects be included in it in any way,” he said.

Runi’s brother Roman expressed disappointment over the progress of the current investigation, saying: “The task force is completely at zero. Its work is proceeding as it has for the past 14 years.”

He demanded that the true perpetrators be brought to justice.