Staff Reporter :
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) on Wednesday evicted BNP leader Barrister Moudud Ahmed from his Gulshan house, which was under his occupation for more than four decades.
Following a verdict of the Supreme Court, the RAJUK conducted the drive.”As per the highest court’s verdict, we are vacating the house and taking control of it,” Waliur Rahman, Zonal Director of Rajuk, told The New Nation on Wednesday.
RAJUK started the eviction drive around 12pm on Wednesday and continued it till sround 5PM.
“It’s RAJUK’s property. It had long been occupied illegally. We have secured a court verdict in our favour,” Rahman said. Apart from RAJUK officials, a large number of policemen took part in the drive. Moudud arrived on the scene after the drive kicked off and stood in front of the main entrance. He, however, stepped aside upon the RAJUK magistrate’s request. The senior lawyer had been living in the Gulshan-2 house since 1972.
“What else can I do? I’ll sleep on the pavement at night. What can a citizen like me do against such illegal forces,” Moudud told reporters. A few number of lower level activists of BNP were seen in the spot during the evection drive but none raised their voice against the drive.
Around 4:30pm, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, the party’s another standing committee member like Moudud, appeared on the scene, but left soon after.
RAJUK brought in four trucks to shift furniture and other belongings owned by Moudud.
The belongings will be kept in two apartments, Moudud’s associate Barrister Ehsanur Rahman told the reporters. “Some will go to an apartment on Road 48, which he owns and the rest to another flat on Road 51, owned by a relative,” he said.
However, expressing frustration over the eviction drive at his Gulshan Avenue house, the BNP senior leader said he will take shelter on the street.
“Where will I stay? What will I do now? If needs be, I’ll take shelter to the street,” he told reporters replying to a query when Rajuk was conducting the drive.
The legal battle over the house on Plot-159 began after the Anti-Corruption Commission filed a case in 2013 against Moudud and his brother Monjur Ahmed, accusing them of illegally occupying the property.
The ACC said the BNP leader produced a ‘fake’ power of attorney for the property and has been living in the house as a tenant. The Gulshan house originally belonged to Md Ehsan, a Pakistani national, who got the rights of the house from the then Dacca Improvement Trust or DIT in 1960.
The owner had left Bangladesh in 1971 after the Liberation War started and the property was listed as abandoned after the couple did not return. Moudud moved into the house in the same year.
In 2010, the High Court granted a plea by Moudud’s brother who sought to transfer the house’s ownership under his name. The order was separately challenged by RAJUK and the state in 2014.
The Appellate Division then overturned the High Court’s order in 2016 and later scrapped Moudud’s petition for a review of the decision on Sunday, clearing the way for his eviction.
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) on Wednesday evicted BNP leader Barrister Moudud Ahmed from his Gulshan house, which was under his occupation for more than four decades.
Following a verdict of the Supreme Court, the RAJUK conducted the drive.”As per the highest court’s verdict, we are vacating the house and taking control of it,” Waliur Rahman, Zonal Director of Rajuk, told The New Nation on Wednesday.
RAJUK started the eviction drive around 12pm on Wednesday and continued it till sround 5PM.
“It’s RAJUK’s property. It had long been occupied illegally. We have secured a court verdict in our favour,” Rahman said. Apart from RAJUK officials, a large number of policemen took part in the drive. Moudud arrived on the scene after the drive kicked off and stood in front of the main entrance. He, however, stepped aside upon the RAJUK magistrate’s request. The senior lawyer had been living in the Gulshan-2 house since 1972.
“What else can I do? I’ll sleep on the pavement at night. What can a citizen like me do against such illegal forces,” Moudud told reporters. A few number of lower level activists of BNP were seen in the spot during the evection drive but none raised their voice against the drive.
Around 4:30pm, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, the party’s another standing committee member like Moudud, appeared on the scene, but left soon after.
RAJUK brought in four trucks to shift furniture and other belongings owned by Moudud.
The belongings will be kept in two apartments, Moudud’s associate Barrister Ehsanur Rahman told the reporters. “Some will go to an apartment on Road 48, which he owns and the rest to another flat on Road 51, owned by a relative,” he said.
However, expressing frustration over the eviction drive at his Gulshan Avenue house, the BNP senior leader said he will take shelter on the street.
“Where will I stay? What will I do now? If needs be, I’ll take shelter to the street,” he told reporters replying to a query when Rajuk was conducting the drive.
The legal battle over the house on Plot-159 began after the Anti-Corruption Commission filed a case in 2013 against Moudud and his brother Monjur Ahmed, accusing them of illegally occupying the property.
The ACC said the BNP leader produced a ‘fake’ power of attorney for the property and has been living in the house as a tenant. The Gulshan house originally belonged to Md Ehsan, a Pakistani national, who got the rights of the house from the then Dacca Improvement Trust or DIT in 1960.
The owner had left Bangladesh in 1971 after the Liberation War started and the property was listed as abandoned after the couple did not return. Moudud moved into the house in the same year.
In 2010, the High Court granted a plea by Moudud’s brother who sought to transfer the house’s ownership under his name. The order was separately challenged by RAJUK and the state in 2014.
The Appellate Division then overturned the High Court’s order in 2016 and later scrapped Moudud’s petition for a review of the decision on Sunday, clearing the way for his eviction.
