ADC Sanjida suspended over allegations of protecting Anisul, Salman

Former Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Sanjida Afrin, has been temporarily suspended. She is currently serving in the Armed Police Battalion (APBn).

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification regarding her suspension on Sunday (December 29). According to the notification, Sanjida has been suspended under government service regulations. During the suspension period, she will be attached to the Barishal Range and will receive a subsistence allowance as per government rules.

The suspension is linked to two murder cases from the July-August mass uprising. Former Law Minister Anisul Huq, ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's former Adviser on Private Sector Industry and Investment, Salman F. Rahman, and the former Director General of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC), Major General (Retd) Ziaul Ahsan, were cleared in a final investigation report prepared by Detective Branch (DB) Inspector Jahangir Arif of the DMP.

However, before the report could be submitted to the court, the matter became public. Following this revelation, Inspector Jahangir Arif was also temporarily suspended.

During questioning by senior officials, Inspector Arif reportedly claimed that he had acted on directives from ADC Sanjida Afrin, according to DB sources.

In September 2023, ADC Sanjida came into the spotlight following an incident in which two central leaders of the Chhatra League and a Dhaka University leader were forcibly taken from BIRDEM Hospital and detained at Shahbagh Police Station. During their detention, they were reportedly subjected to brutal physical assault by the police.