The High Court (HC) today (March 19) directed Awami League lawmaker Abdus Salam Murshedy to hand over the property at Gulshan in Dhaka to the government terming it abandoned property.As per the order, he will have to hand over the property that he allegedly occupied illegally through the secretary at the housing and public works ministry within three months.The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Kazi Ebadot Hossain delivered the verdict after hearing a writ petition in this regard.The HC also directed the housing and public works secretary to submit a compliance report before this court through its registrar office 15 days after receiving the property.

The court said the property was not released through the court of settlement.

Supreme Court lawyer Sayedul Haque Suman, now an independent lawmaker, submitted the petition as public interest litigation to the HC on October 31, 2022.

In the petition, Suman said Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) had given ownership of the luxurious building of the housing and public works department to Murshedy, lawmaker from Khulna-4 constituency, by forging documents.

Earlier during the hearing of the petition, the Anti-Corruption Commission's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told the HC that the commission, in a probe, found that fraudulence, forgery, and abuse of power occurred during the allocation of the Gulshan house and plot to Murshedy.

Following the enquiry report, ACC filed a criminal case against 11 people under the Penal Code and Section 5(2) of the Anti-Corruption Act of 1947.