Will sleep on pavement, says Moudud after eviction from Gulshan home

BNP leader Moudud Ahmed has said political rivalry was behind his eviction from his Gulshan address.

The senior lawyer reacted to his eviction in front of the Gulshan-2 house where he had been living since 1972.

The house sits on 24,480 square feet or 0.56 acres in the diplomatic zone of the capital. A RAJUK official estimated the price of the land at Tk 3.5 billion.

“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.    

RAJUK began evicting Moudud on Wednesday from the house in the upscale neighbourhood after the BNP leader lost a legal battle against the Capital Development Authority.

“Must we suffer this fate for being opposition leaders? Could this have happened to a ruling party leader? This an example of political vengeance,” said the BNP standing committee member.

With the RAJUK drive ongoing, Moudud was seen moving around in a black coat and white shirt with a stiff wing collar with bands on a hot summer Wednesday. He used his signature suspenders to hold up his trousers.

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.
 
It 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 owners 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 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.