In a significant legal development, two former Inspectors General of Police (IGP) in Bangladesh, Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun and AKM Shahidul Hoque, were remanded by a Dhaka court today (4 September) in connection with separate murder cases. Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Akhtaruzzaman issued the remand orders, placing Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun on an eight-day remand over the murder of grocery shopkeeper Abu Sayed in the Mohammadpur area. Meanwhile, AKM Shahidul Hoque was remanded for seven days in a separate case related to the killing of businessman Abdul Wadud during a protest led by the Anti-discrimination Student Movement in Dhaka’s New Market area.
The arrests occurred earlier today, with Mamun being detained in Tejgaon and Shahidul Hoque in Uttara, Dhaka. According to Rezaul Karim Mallick, the additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and chief of the Detective Branch, both former IGPs were taken into custody by the Detective Branch (DB) in connection with cases accusing them of involvement in attacks, shootings, and killings during recent student protests.
Shahidul Hoque served as the country’s police chief from December 2014 until his retirement on 31 January 2018. Abdullah Al Mamun succeeded Benazir Ahmed as IGP on 30 September 2022 and was appointed on a contractual basis until 11 July 2024. Mamun’s tenure, which included managing the January 2024 election and quelling protests against the Hasina regime, was extended by the government on 5 July 2024, just before the government’s fall on 5 August, after which his appointment was terminated.
