Sagar-Runi Murder
Progress made in probe
IGP tells JS committeeNo progress in Ilias Ali, Saudi diplomat cases, says Rab chief
Leaders of different journalist associations talk to media demanding arrest of the killers of journalist couple Sagar-Runi and ATN Bangla Chairman Mahfuzur Rahman during a protest procession brought out from Jatiya Press Club in the capital yesterday.Photo: STAR
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandakar yesterday told the parliamentary standing committee on home ministry that the law enforcers had made "good progress" in the investigation of journalist couple Sagar-Runi killing case. “In response to our query, the IGP said they have made good progress in the investigation of journalist couple murder after getting viscera and forensic reports of the deceased's bodies,” Mujib-ul-Haque Chunnu, a member of the committee, told The Daily Star. Chunnu, also a lawmaker of Jatiya Party, who was present at the meeting at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, said the IGP did not give any detail of the progress. “But he [IGP] assured us [committee members] of completing the investigation soon.” Sagar Sarowar, news editor at private TV channel Maasranga, and Meherun Runi, senior reporter at ATN Bangla, were killed at their rented apartment in the capital on February 11. On the other hand, Director General of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Mokhlesur Rahman informed the committee that it could not make any progress or find any clue behind the disappearance of BNP leader M Ilias Ali and the killing of a Saudi diplomat in the capital. Ilias Ali, 51, a BNP organising secretary and a former MP, and his driver went missing in the wee hours of April 18. The Rab DG said the force was trying to track down the BNP leader but could not make any headway in this regard. “We have been trying the best, but could not work out any clue behind his [Ilias] disappearance,” Chunnu quoted the Rab DG as saying. The Rab chief also replied in the same tune when asked about the investigation of killing of Khalaf Al Ali, an official of the Saudi embassy in Dhaka, who was shot dead on March 6. The committee asked both the police and Rab chiefs to find Ilias and complete investigation of the diplomat killing soon. On May 23, the IGP told the JS committee that police could not make “desired progress” in the cases of killings of the journalist couple and the Saudi diplomat and tracking down M Ilias Ali. At the same meeting, State Minister for Home Shamsul Haque Tuku said neither the government nor the law enforcers could do anything if BNP continued hiding their leader M Ilias Ali. The committee members on several meetings blasted Home Minister Shahara Khatun, her deputy, the IGP and the Rab chief for their failure to find killers of journalist couple Sagar-Runi and Ilias Ali.
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