New IGP Baharul, DMP Commissioner Sajjat take charge

Two retired officers have been selected for the two key police posts

Newly-appointed Inspector General of Police Baharul Alam and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sheikh Sajjat Ali have taken up their new posts.

They took charge from the previous IGP and DMP commissioner in their respective offices in Dhaka on Thursday morning.

The interim government made the appointments in the second biggest police shakeup since the fall of the Awami League government three months ago.

Baharul, who retired four years ago, was selected as the new IGP while Sajjat got the nod as the DMP commissioner on Wednesday.

Police Headquarters' spokesperson AKM Kamrul Ahsan said Baharul replaced IGP Mainul Islam this morning.

In a statement, DMP spokesperson Deputy Commissioner Talebur Rahman confirmed the transfer of the agency’s leadership to Sajjat.

Both Baharul and Sajjat, retired officers from the 1984 batch of the Bangladesh Civil Service (police) cadre, will serve for the next two years.

Sajjat, appointed on the same day, will succeed DMP Commissioner Md Mainul Hasan.

Former head of the Special Branch of police Baharul served as a police liaison officer in the Peacekeeping Division at the United Nations Headquarters from 2009 to 2013.

In 2015, he worked as a senior police advisor for the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Afghanistan.

He also held responsibilities in Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone. This officer, who was passed over for promotion twice, retired in 2020.

Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime on Aug 5, the then IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun went into hiding. The very next midnight, Mainul took over as the new police chief.

DMP Commissioner Mainul was appointed on Aug 6, after serving as the deputy inspector general of the Criminal Investigation Department of police.

After the second round of changes in the top two positions of the police three months after the interim government took office, Youth and Sports Advisor Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan told reporters that the replacement has been made to strengthen the law and order situation in Bangladesh.

He also promised changes in the places where the question of stagnation is being raised, including in the administration.