The Crime Desk: The mystery of the murder of journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Mehrun Rooney has not been solved even in an era. The investigation is still at the stage of identifying the accused, examining the seized evidence, and recovering the lost laptop of the victims. Despite repeated claims by RAB, there has been visible progress in the case. But like in the past, the company could not submit any report on this matter. RAB is not an investigative agency. Despite this, the sensational case has been hanging for years in the name of investigation. On the contrary, the date of submission of the investigation report has been delayed 111 times. The date of submission of the inquiry report in the latest case was postponed to August 4. The day before the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, the investigating agency RAB could not submit its report to the court due to the situation in the country, the court said.
The family members of the two slain journalists are suffering from depression as the investigation of the case has been going on for more than a century. They are saying, “Rather than seeking justice, we have given up the hope of getting justice.” Yesterday, the plaintiff in the case spoke to Nowsher Ali Roman, the younger brother of the deceased journalist Mehrun Rooney. He told the media that the case can be properly investigated by any agency if the government is willing. What I have said before in this regard, I am still saying in an unequivocal voice, ‘We want justice. Whoever investigates it should have no effect. We do not know who is repeatedly obstructing the investigation of this case.
Nowsher Ali Roman said, ‘All I can say is that RAB’s investigation officer is not working on this matter. Stopped contacting us too. But every year they have been saying regularly, visible progress has been made. But nothing in reality. As a result, whichever agency is used to investigate, we want the case to be properly investigated and the culprits to be brought under the law.
Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists Secretary General Quader Gani Chowdhury said, Why not investigate the murder of journalist couple Sagar-Runi? The fascist government fell through the student movement. At that time, the fascist government prevented the investigation of this murder case. Now we want a quick investigation into it. Therefore, if the government doesn’t influence whoever is investigating, whether it is RAB, police, or PBI, the real killers can be identified after the investigation of this murder is over.
On the night of February 11, 2012, journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Mehrun Rooney were brutally murdered in the 5th floor A-4 flat of 58/A/2 house in West Rajabazar of the capital. After the murder, the then Home Minister announced that the killers would be brought to justice within 48 hours. The next day, Rooney’s brother Nowsher Ali Roman filed a case at the Sherebangla Nagar police station as the plaintiff. The case was first investigated by an officer of the Sherebangla Nagar police station. On February 16, the investigation of the case was carried out by the North Police Inspector of the Detective Police (DB). On Rabiul Alam. However, after two months, the High Court ordered RAB to investigate the case. Even though an era has passed since then, there has been no visible progress in the case.
Officials related to the investigation of RAB say that the investigating officer first investigates the case filed in the case of a murder. The defendant then attempts to identify, examine seized evidence for clues, and retrieve the murder victim’s lost belongings. These are the initial stages of the investigation of a case; even after a century of investigation, the Sagar-Rooney murder case is still at the initial stage. The investigation agency is still trying to identify the accused, test the seized evidence, and recover the lost laptop of the victims.
RAB sent the DNA samples of the eight accused, the two victims, and their relatives to the United States for testing. RAB received deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test reports from US laboratories. A review of those reports and crime scene reports revealed complete DNA profiles of the two men. However, these tests did not identify the suspected killer. Five of the eight people arrested in the case—RRafiqul, Bakul, Saeed, Mintu, and Kamrul Hasan, alias Arun Mahakhali’s Chest Hospital doctor Narayanchandra Roy—were involved in the murder. Family friend Tanveer and home security guards Palash Rudra Pal and Humayun Kabir were shown arrested. All of them got bail from the High Court. As a result, no one is in jail in this case.
