BNP leader Moudud loses his Gulshan home of more than four decades

Capital Dhaka’s development agency RAJUK has forced BNP leader Moudud Ahmed from his home in upscale Gulshan, where he had been living for more than four decades.

RAJUK launched the eviction drive around 12pm on Wednesday after Supreme Court threw out the senior lawyer's plea to review its earlier decision overturning a High Court judgment in his favour. 

Speaking to the media during the eviction, former law minister Moudud questioned the drive.

"Is there any law which states that how much time someone should be given to vacate a home? Is there any court order? Do they (RAJUK) have any order? They just entered the house! Isn't there any rule of law in our country?" he asked.  

He and BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged that he had to leave the house only because of his affiliation with the party.

Final order: Moudud must vacate Gulshan home

"I have to face this extreme example of vengeance only because I am in the opposition," Moudud claimed.   

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia came to visit Moudud in the evening in front of the Gulshan-2 house where he had been living since 1972.

The party chief spoke to Moudud, who was visibly shaken by the eviction drive, surrounded by movers and policemen. Moudud described to the former prime minister how the raid was launched without prior notice.

Mirza Fakhrul, Vice Chairman Khandoker Mahbub Hossain, Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and Joint Secretary General Mahbub Uddin Khokon were also seen around the house.

Will sleep on pavement: Moudud

Khaleda, before visiting Moudud, made a scathing attack on the government at an Iftar.

She warned the Awami League government leaders that the people will drive them out of their homes as she recalled her own eviction seven years ago.

"The people are watching everything. The government too will be thrown out," she said.

Mirza Fakhrul alleged the eviction aimed to 'harass and harm' Moudud only because of him being a senior BNP leader.

"We will tackle such incidents politically in the future," he said.

After launching the eviction drive, RAJUK Executive Magistrate Khandaker Waliur Rahman told bdnews24.com: "It's our property. He had been occupying it illegally for long. We have secured a court verdict in our favour."

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.

“I’ll sleep on the pavement at night. What else can I do? What can a citizen like me do against such illegal forces,” Moudud told reporters.

With the RAJUK drive ongoing, Moudud was moving around in a black coat and white shirt with bands on a hot summer Wednesday, surrounded by movers and policemen. He wore his signature suspenders.

Around 4:30pm, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, who sits with Moudud on the BNP's policymaking National Standing Committee, appeared on the scene, but left soon after.

RAJUK brought in four trucks to shift furniture and other belongings owned by Moudud.

Those included a piano, a wooden locker, over 50 suitcases, dozens of sofas and chairs, several closets, beds, refrigerators, air-conditioners and other household appliances.

The belongings will be kept in two apartments, Moudud's associate Barrister Ehsanur Rahman told bdnews24.com.

"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 told bdnews24.com.

The Gulshan house on Plot-159 originally belonged to Md Ehsan, a Pakistani national, who received the rights on the house from the then Dacca Improvement Trust or DIT in 1960.

Ehsan's Austrian wife Inje Mariah Platz was added as another owner to the house's documents in 1965.

The owners left Bangladesh in 1971 after the Liberation War started.

In 1972, the property was listed as abandoned as the couple did not return. Moudud moved into the house the same year.

The Anti-Corruption Commission or ACC filed a case in 2013 against Moudud and his brother accusing them of illegally occupying the property.

It alleged that the BNP leader produced a 'fake' power of attorney for the property and has been living in the house as a tenant.

Moudud’s early career dates back to the late 1960s. As a young lawyer just back from London, Moudud joined Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's defence team in the Agartala Conspiracy Case.

After military leader Ziaur Rahman took over, Moudud became a part of the government. He served as a minister and the deputy prime minister in that regime.

Moudud also served as minister, deputy prime minister, prime minister and finally the vice president in the nine years of military dictator HM Ershad's regime.

He returned to the BNP in 1996 and served as law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister under the 2001-6 BNP-Jamaat alliance government.

The ACC case said that while serving as the deputy prime minister in the Zia regime, Moudud tried to exclude the Gulshan house from the list of abandoned properties and in 1980, the house was allocated to his brother with a payment of only Tk 100.

According to the case documents, the house's owner Platz issued a power of attorney for the property to one Mohsin Darbar in 1984.

Another document produced by Moudud's brother Manzur Ahmed in court shows that a deed was signed with Platz to sell the property.

The early history of the legal battle dates back to 1993 when Moudud's brother went to a Dhaka court in an effort to implement the deed. But the case was scrapped.

He then challenged the decision in the High Court and won a verdict in his favour in 2005.

In 2008, RAJUK sought permission from the top court to challenge the order, but it was turned down.

In 2010, Moudud's brother then went to the High Court seeking the transfer of property ownership and the court granted his plea ordering the mutation of the house in his favour.

In 2014, RAJUK and the state filed separate pleas challenging that order. 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. 

After the Appellate Division verdict, Moudud said he would initiate legal proceedings, but would not vacate the house.

Describing Moudud's remarks as 'audacious', Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said that if it had been anywhere else in the world, a politician would have left with dignity.

Speaking to the media in front of the house on Wednesday, Moudud claimed RAJUK needed to serve a notice first before the eviction drive.

Magistrate Waliur, however, refuted the claim, saying, "Is it his property? Why should we serve a notice on him?"