HC drops bail pleas of Sagar-Runi murder accused

The High Court today dropped the bail petitions from cause list of three accused in journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi murder case.

The court also refused to hear the latest status of the case from the investigation officer.Assistant Superintendent of Rapid Action Battalion Jafarullah, also the IO of the case, appeared before the bench of Justice M Shawkat Hosssain and Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam with progress report this morning in compliance of an HC order.

The judges said the issue of the IO’s appearance before the court arose from two bail petitions filed by the three accused in the case.

But this bench has no jurisdiction to hear the bail petitions, the judges said.

While hearing of two bail petitions on February 18, another HC bench summoned the IO to give an explanation on the progress in its investigation.

The three bail petitioners can move their petition to another HC bench which has the jurisdiction for dealing with such matter, the judges said while passing today’s order.

Petitioners’ lawyer SM Masud Hossain Dolon told The Daily Star that he would apply to the chief justice to constitute an HC bench for hearing the bail petitions.

The three accused -- Bakul Mia, Rafiqul Islam and Kamrul Islam Arun -- submitted their bail petitions to the HC on September 2 last year.

Sagar, news editor of the private TV station Maasranga, and his wife Runi, senior reporter of another channel ATN Bangla, were killed at their rented flat in the capital's West Rajabazar in the early hours of February 11, 2012.

Their only son Mahir Sarowar Megh, then 5, was home at that time.

The Detective Branch of police was first tasked with probing the twin murder. It detained four suspects and interrogated some 40 people.

Frustrated with the DB's performance, the High Court in April 2012 handed over the case to the Rapid Action Battalion. The Rab interrogated as many as 100 people.

In October 2012, the then home minister announced a bounty of Tk 10 lakh for helping law enforcers arrest Humayun Kabir, the guard at Sagar-Runi's residence who was on the run.

Humayun was arrested on February 9 last year, but there has been no progress in the case since then.

DNA samples collected from the scene and of the suspected killers have been sent to a US laboratory for cross-matching, Rab sources said.