By Nazmus Saquib
Although five days have elapsed since the brutal murder of the journalist couple Meherun Runi and Sagar Sarwar, Police is yet to find any clue to crack the case, giving rise to palpable shock and anger among colleagues and kin of the journalists.
Wishing anonymity, a crime reporter of a national daily said, “I think Meherun Runi and Sagar’s close relatives were involved in the crime. The mobile call list of Sagar and Runi suggests that they talked with their journalist friends and close relatives in their last few hours. The criminals did not provide much evidence for the investigators. It would be hard now to find out the mystery until Police nab their suspected friends and relatives and interrogate them.”
However the Police sources have been directed last night not to arrest anybody because of mere suspicion.
The law-enforcers have also failed to officially announce anyone’s arrest news until Wednesday as 52 hours on top of the 48-hour deadline set by the home minister for catch the killers of Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi .
Colleagues and relatives are clearly exasperated with the whole saga and the law-enforcers’ failure to make a breakthrough.
Sagar’s cousin Bashir Ahmed last night said, “We want to believe that the government is attaching maximum importance to this incident. But no information on the killers and no arrest even after five days have put a big question mark over their role.”
However, Runi’s brother Nowsher Roman is convinced that police are giving their best to resolve the mystery behind the murders. He told reporters “Police are in constant contact with us. They are telling us to be patient. We are satisfied with their effort.”
“Then again, it’s tough on us to have no crucial information about the killers after five days.”
Inspector general of police Hassan Mahmood Khandker on Monday had claimed ‘remarkable progress’ in solving the murder riddle, but nothing has been disclosed yet on the progress.
Earlier in the day, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) deputy commissioner (south) of the Detective Branch (DB) Monirul Islam had told reporters, “Police will not arrest anyone without ‘being 100 percent sure’ of their involvement in the journalist couple murder.”
He also said that police would not even disclose the motives behind the murder if they were not absolutely sure.
Islam also said for the first time that they were even looking into the possibility of robbery or burglary.
The detectives are going full steam ahead with the investigation taking view of six issues, he said in a reassuring tone. “We have mobilised all our efforts to clear the mystery and several of our teams are working on this case.”
DMP deputy commissioner Imam Hasan on Tuesday had said that the investigation was going on based on three issues. He said they were looking for rivalries in the couple’s professional or personal life or property matters.
ATN Bangla news chief and Runi’s colleague Za E Mamun said it’s the police’s failure to have not been able to disclose any information on the killers after five days.
He said: “We were hopeful about the killers’ arrest after the orders from the prime minister and home minister. But we are not seeing any reflection of their orders. This is police’s failure.”
Demanding headway in one or two days, Mamun said, “We don’t want to hear only words. We want proof. We want evidence that police or the Detective Branch are working genuinely.”
Sagar’s colleague Maasranga Television’s chief news editor Rezwan Haque was equally upset.
Speaking to Bangladesh Chronicle, he said: “The incident has received the highest importance at the state level. The prime minister herself has taken the responsibility of the couple’s child and ordered arrest of the guilty. But even after five days, police could not manage to say anything positive until today about who perpetrated the act.”
ATN Bangla special correspondent Nadira Kiron criticised police officials for coming up with diverging statements.
“There is too much confusion about the murders. Police are saying different things each day. It’s really frustrating for us” she said.
