A Dhaka court has deferred the gazette publication date requiring Tulip Rizwana Siddiq and former Rajuk assistant legal adviser Sardar Mosharraf Hossain to appear before it in a graft case over an alleged flat fraud in Gulshan.
The court of Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Sabbir Faiz passed the order on Sunday, setting April 8 as the new date.
Assistant Director (General) of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Prosecution Division Aminul Islam confirmed the matter.
He said the Bangladesh Government Printing Press (BG Press) had issued a notice on March 8 asking the accused to appear before the court. However, the gazette could not be published in time due to the Eid holidays, prompting the court to reschedule the date.
Earlier, on February 18, the court took cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the ACC against Tulip Rizwana Siddiq—daughter of Sheikh Rehana and niece of ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina—and Sardar Mosharraf Hossain. Arrest warrants were issued against them on the same day.
The ACC filed the case on April 15 last year against Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, former Rajuk assistant legal adviser Shah Md Khasruzzaman, and Sardar Mosharraf Hossain, alleging illegal acquisition of a flat owned by Eastern Housing Limited in Gulshan-2.
According to the case statement, the accused allegedly abused their authority in collusion with one another to illegally occupy and subsequently register a flat—Flat B/201, House 5A and 5B (old), now 113, 11B (new), Road 71—in Gulshan.
Following the case, Shah Md Khasruzzaman filed a writ petition with the High Court in July, which stayed the investigation against him for three months. The ACC later moved the Chamber Court but received a “no order.”
On December 11, after completing its investigation, the ACC submitted a chargesheet against Tulip Rizwana Siddiq and Sardar Mosharraf Hossain under relevant sections of the Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.