February 12, 2025
DHAKA – “Hero! Do your job, I am on the way home; Megh is alone.” Those were the last words by journalist Meherun Runi from the ATN Bangla newsroom on the afternoon of February 10, 2012. She was a colleague who was like a sister to me. We had shared lots of good times together in the narrow canteen and newsroom of ATN Bangla.
I can still recall the fateful morning of February 11. One of my fellow journalists called and asked me to switch the TV on. After seeing the breaking news on the scroll, I rushed to Runi’s place. While going from Mohammadpur to West Rajabazar, only one sentence echoed in my head, “Hero! Do your job, I am on the way home; Megh is alone.” When I reached the destination, I saw the bloodstained floor of the bedroom of Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi. I also saw the speechless little Megh. We were speechless too. The whole country was shocked.
The killing of the couple was one of the most high-profile unresolved cases during the tenure of the ousted Awami League government. The then home minister and government high-ups assured that a fair investigation into the case would be carried out and the family would get justice.
The journalist community knew very well that the Detective Branch (DB) of the police was capable of solving the case within a short period of time. But it was handed over to the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on April 18 of the same year. After a few days, the investigation drama started.
I was assigned to cover the Rab investigation. I conducted many formal interviews, including the ones with Commander Mohammad Sohail, the then spokesperson of Rab, and other officials related to the case. But surprisingly, they diverted the case from one direction to another.
I managed to expose one such diversion. Dr Narayan Chandra Nitai, an assistant professor at the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH), was stabbed to death at his residence in Dhaka on August 23, 2012—six months after Sagar and Runi were killed. Rab arrested six alleged killers of Dr Nitai and surprisingly, also presented them as accused in the Sagar-Runi murder case. I was at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court in Dhaka when those six alleged killers were sent to remand in the Sagar-Runi case. At least two of them cried out loud while being taken away, “Sir, we are not involved in this case. Sir, save us, please.” Later, none of the six confessed to their involvement in the Sagar-Runi murder. To date, the question remains why Rab tried to falsely accuse these people in the Sagar-Runi case and divert the case.
I once asked the late Mohammed Nasim, former minister of health and family welfare and coordinator of the 14-party alliance, what he thought about people’s frustration regarding the lack of progress in the case. He expressed his annoyance at the former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, and said, “Why is the party leader not dealing with this issue? It is destroying the image of the Awami government.” And I think he was right.
She had said she would take all the responsibilities of Megh. But I am also curious to know what Sheikh Hasina did for the son of the slain journalists. Or was it just a tactic to get public sympathy and attention?
Meanwhile, the fateful saga of Sagar-Runi’s murder continued. Law enforcers kept on diverting the case, killing time, and unnecessarily bringing irrelevant elements under the spotlight due to a lack of proper investigation. Finally, last year, the case was handed over to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI). But the result still remains zero.
Following the July-August uprising, the interim government gave the assurance of proper investigation and justice. However, after six months, there is no indication of progress yet.
So many things have changed since the murder of Sagar and Runi. Mahir Sarowar Megh, who was a four-and-a-half-year-old child then, is an energetic young man now. The regime of the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina has fallen. But there has not been any progress in this case yet. During the early years of the case, one of my colleagues from ATN Bangla, in their frustration, said that this case would never be solved until the victims came to life! In order to solve the murders, Sagar and Runi themselves have to give their statement on television. As the years go by, my former colleague’s statement sadly seems to be the only way out.
Rahat Minhaz is assistant professor of mass communication and journalism at Jagannath University. He can be reached at minhaz_uddin_du@yahoo.com.
Views expressed in this article are the author’s own.