Munia Case: Influence, Politics and Procedural Flaws

In most cases where hanging bodies are recovered, police register incidents as unnatural deaths if no injury marks are found. However, in the death of college student Mosarat Jahan Munia in 2021, Gulshan police took a different course by recording a murder case instead.

To understand the unusual handling of the Munia case, consider the example of Nafiujjaman Kaushik, a Tejgaon College student. His body was found hanging in his rented flat in Tejgaon on 10 July. Although his family alleged he had been murdered, claiming injury marks on his body, the police inquest report stated otherwise. Accordingly, Tejgaon police registered the case as an unnatural death, saying a murder case would only be filed if the autopsy confirmed homicide.

In Munia’s case, however, the inquest report also found no injury marks, yet Gulshan police immediately filed a murder case against Sayem Sobhan Anvir, the managing director of Bashundhara Group, the country’s largest business conglomerate.

According to sources, Munia had spoken to her elder sister Nusrat Jahan just an hour before iftar on 26 April 2021, and they had planned to go shopping afterward. Following iftar, Nusrat went to Munia’s Gulshan-1 flat and discovered her hanging body. Within an hour, between 8:00 pm and 8:50 pm, Nusrat filed a murder case with Gulshan Police Station. By the next day, a Dhaka court had already imposed a travel ban on the accused.

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Talebur Rahman told the Daily Sun that police generally record unnatural death cases for hangings if no marks of injury are found and the circumstances do not suggest foul play. If the autopsy later indicates murder, the case can then be converted into a homicide investigation.

Sources allege that influential figures—including former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former DB chief Harun ur Rashid, and content creator Tawhid Afridi—were behind the swift filing of the murder case over Munia’s death.

Recently leaked videos and audio recordings suggest Afridi had a close relationship with Munia, which later soured. One woman, who claims to have also been deceived by Afridi, alleged that he admitted responsibility for Munia’s death and even threatened her with the same fate.

Afridi and his family are reported to have maintained close ties with top political and law enforcement officials, using those connections for protection. Sources believe this influence misdirected the Munia investigation.

Afridi was arrested by the CID from Barishal on Sunday night in a separate murder case filed over the killing of Asadul Haque Babu in Dhaka’s Jatrabari during the July Uprising. A Dhaka court placed him on a five-day remand on Monday. His father, Nasir Uddin Sathi, chairman of My TV, was also arrested in connection with the same case earlier in August.

Regarding Afridi’s remand, CID Special Superintendent (Media) Jasim Uddin Khan said investigators had sent his mobile phones for forensic tests.

Meanwhile, an officer of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) told the Daily Sun, on condition of anonymity, that Bashundhara MD Sayem Sobhan Anvir never visited the apartment where Munia died.

The then head of Dhaka Medical College’s Forensic Department, Dr Md Maksud, also stated that the autopsy confirmed Munia’s death was a suicide, consistent with the inquest findings.

Based on the autopsy, police submitted a final report dismissing the murder allegation, declaring the case against Anvir to be baseless. Munia’s sister later filed another case, but the PBI again concluded that she had committed suicide and that the murder claim lacked evidence.