From 7:30am, a woman stood knocking at the door of a flat, insisting her husband was inside and repeatedly asking for the door to be opened, but got no response. Police went to the scene after being alerted, but the door remained shut. Firefighters eventually broke it down and pulled out a police officer, a former officer-in-charge (OC), and a woman from inside. Both were then taken to the police station. The incident occurred on Friday (September 18) morning near Nadera Haji’s Mor, in the area covered by Chandrima police station in Rajshahi city.
The police officer taken to the station was identified as Mahbub Alam, who served as officer-in-charge of Chandrima police station in 2024. After being brought out of the flat, Mahbub Alam claimed the woman inside, Sanjida Mou, was his wife, but he could not produce their marriage certificate. Meanwhile, Anni Akter, who had been standing outside the flat, identified herself as Mahbub Alam’s sixth wife. Mahbub claimed he had divorced Anni four days earlier.
The episode began on Friday morning when Anni Akter arrived at the flat from Naogaon by around 7:30am. She said she had learned the previous night that Mahbub Alam had gone to the flat, where a woman named Sanjida Mou was also present, prompting her to go and knock on the door. After a long wait with no response, she called the national emergency number, 999. She said police still could not get the door opened after arriving at the scene, so she then called the fire service. Firefighters broke down the door and went inside; according to her account, Mahbub Alam and Sanjida Mou had bolted it from within, and did not open it even after police called and asked them to.
Mahbub Alam and Sanjida Mou were then taken to the police station, where journalists attempted to speak with them. Sanjida declined to comment, but Mahbub Alam said he had divorced Anni and submitted related paperwork to police, though he could not produce a marriage certificate for his union with Sanjida. Police said Mahbub Alam had provided a document showing he divorced Anni four days earlier, but Anni said she had never received any divorce papers.
Anni Akter, a resident of Naogaon who describes herself as a women’s entrepreneur and content creator, alleges Mahbub Alam married her at the start of this year, and that she later learned of his relationships and marriages with multiple women in different areas. She further alleges Mahbub Alam owns a separate flat in Rajshahi city’s Padma residential area, where she had previously found him with Sanjida Mou, though she did not disclose it at the time.
The flat near Nadera Haji’s Mor where Friday’s incident took place is rented in the name of Mahbub Alam’s reported foster daughter, who lives there with her husband. However, it is understood that Mahbub Alam and Sanjida Mou had been staying at the flat since Thursday night.
Questions have also been raised over Mahbub Alam’s job status. He was removed as OC of Chandrima police station in 2024 after a video of him accepting an envelope from someone went viral on social media. A departmental case was later filed against him while he was serving with Naogaon district police, after which he was attached to the Sirajganj In-Service Training Centre. The centre’s commandant, Mostaque Ahmed, told media that Mahbub Alam has no approved leave and had not informed anyone before travelling to Rajshahi, adding that leaving one’s post without permission is an offence. He said Mahbub Alam, while attached to the training centre, remains formally employed with Naogaon district police, and that the matter had been reported to them for departmental action.
Anni Akter said she intends to file a written complaint at the police station over the incident, and the process of drafting it began on Friday afternoon, with Mahbub Alam and Sanjida Mou held in separate rooms at the station. With Chandrima police station’s OC, Monirul Islam, on leave, the station’s inspector (investigation), Mahmud Siddiqui, said no decision had yet been made regarding Mahbub Alam and Sanjida Mou, and that senior police officials would visit the station before a decision was taken.