The suspended Assistant Registrar of Dhaka University and proprietor of Aparajita International, Sharmin Jahan, was sent to jail on Tuesday in a case filed over supplying of fake N95 face masks to BSMMU Covid Unit.
The Dhaka University (DU) authorities suspended Sharmin for tarnishing the image of the university by engaging in private business breaking rules.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Shahidul Islam passed the order rejecting her bail prayer.
Detective Branch (DB) of police Inspector Shah Akhtaruzzaman Elias, also the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, produced Sharmin after ending a three-day remand.
The IO said in his forwarding report that Sharmin gave important information about supplying of fake N95 masks to BSMMU’s Covid-19 isolation unit on July 26 which is being verified. He appealed to the court to keep her in jail custody until the probe is completed.
Defence lawyer Adv Kazi Panir Hossain, submitted a petition seeking bail saying that his client was implicated in a false and vague allegation.
After hearing from both sides, the court rejected Sharmin’s bail prayer and ordered to send her to jail. On July 25, another Dhaka court placed Sharmin , on a three-day remand in the much-talked about N95 masks scam case.
Earlier on the night of July 23, BSMMU proctor Md Mozaffar Ahmed filed the case against Sharmin Jahan.
BSMMU authorities accused her of putting the life of frontline fighters against coronavirus at risk by supplying substandard masks.
BSMMU proctor in the case statement said, Sharmin got a work order of supplying 11,000 masks to the university on June 27.
Sharmin, who graduated from Dhaka University in 2002, was elected president of Bangladesh-Kuwait Friendship Hall Chhatra League. She was a deputy secretary in the Awami League’s previous central sub-committee on women and children affairs.
Although she does not currently hold a post, Sharmin is actively involved with the incumbent committee.
On July 18, BSMMU authorities served a notice seeking explanation over the quality of the face masks. Following that, BSMMU decided to file case against Sharmin.
Sharmin opened the supply business in March 2019 after she returned from Wuhan after a study break from a university in China. She went there in 2016 on a scholarship. She returned home when a lockdown was imposed in Wuhan in January this year after the corona virus epidemic began. She is now on a sabbatical.❑
