UNB, Dhaka: The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted BNP senior leader Moudud Ahmed and his brother Manjur Ahmed in a case filed over grabbing a government house in the city’s Gulshan area. The court also scraped Manjur Ahmed’s ownership of the house. A five-member Appellate Division bench, led by the Chief Justice SK Sinha, passed the orders following two appeals–one filed by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) and another by Moudud Ahmed and his brother Manjur Ahmed. On August 12, 2010, the High Court (HC) ordered mutation of the house on plot-159 of Gulshan-2 in the name of Manjur. Later, Rajuk filed an appeal to the Appellate Division challenging the the HC order. After hearing the appeal, the Appellate Division scraped Manjur’s ownership of the house today. On the other hand, on December 17, 2013, Deputy Director of Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Harun-or-Rashid filed a case with Gulshan Police Station against Moudud and Manjur on charge of grabbing the house. On June 14, 2014, a lower court took cognizance of the case. Later, Moudud and his brother filed a writ petition with the HC challenging the legality of a lower court order taking cognizance of the charges. However, the HC dismissed the writ petition on June 23, 2015, clearing the way for continuation of the case. Following this, Moudud and Manjur filed the appeal to the Appellate Division seeking rejection of the HC order. Attorney General (AG) Mahbubey Alam said with the apex court order of dismissing the HC order, Moudud and his brother got acquittal from the case filed by ACC. However, they have to leave the ownership of the house as the apex court granted the Rajuk appeal. In his reaction after the verdict, Moudud said this is not a government property as his brother Manjur has been living at this house since 1981. Moudud said he will file a review petition with the Appellate Division over the scrapping order of the house.
