BNP leader Moudud says he sleeps on the floor after eviction

BNP leader Moudud Ahmed says he has been sleeping on the floor of his apartment as RAJUK movers damaged his furniture during the Jun 7 eviction.

The senior lawyer said on Thursday the Supreme Court verdict did not order his eviction from the Gulshan home where he had lived for almost four decades.

Flanked by pro-BNP lawyers, Ahmed emerged before the media at Supreme Court Bar Association's auditorium.

Describing the eviction as a 'human rights violation', Moudud claimed neither the capital development agency RAJUK, nor the government, owns the property.

Moudud evicted from his four-decade home

Moudud claims that the house is owned by Karim Franz Sulaiman, son of Md Ehsan, a Pakistani national, and his Austrian wife Inje Mariah Platz, who originally owned the property.

"An eviction without a court order or a prior notice is illegal," he said.

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 Manzur 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.

Ehsan won the ownership of the house from the then Dacca Improvement Trust or DIT in 1960. 

The owners 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.

On Jun 4 this year, the top court scrapped Moudud’s petition for a review of the decision, clearing the way for his eviction.

Two days later, RAJUK evicted him from the house sprawling on 24,480 square feet. RAJUK valued the entire property at about Tk 3.5 billion.

The furniture and belongings were removed with Moudud standing in front of the house's main entrance.

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

'Will sleep on pavement'

At Thursday's media briefing, Moudud said: "They have damaged a lot of furniture, including my cot. I now sleep on the floor."

The former minister said several of his 'precious collections' including a 1,000-year-old Egyptian clay bowl are missing. "Who gave them the right to destroy the memories of my sons?"

According to an affidavit submitted to the Election Commission before the 2008 national election, Moudud and his wife own four apartments in Dhaka.

On the day of eviction, RAJUK used four trucks to shift furniture and other belongings.

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.

Some of the belongings were taken to Moudud's apartment on Road 48 in Gulshan, where he lives now, and some to an apartment owned by a relative.