A court in Bangladesh on Tuesday issued fresh arrest warrants against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her son Sajeeb Wajed and 16 others in two cases related to alleged irregularities in allocating residential plots on the outskirts of the capital.
"Dhaka metropolitan senior special judge's court issued the warrants in two cases over the irregularities in acquiring plots in Purbachal New Town, taking into consideration the Anti-Corruption Commission chargesheets,a court official said.
According to a prosecution lawyer, most of those accused were government officials.
The court ordered the police to submit a report on April 29 if the now self-exiled ex-premier and other accused were arrested.
Judge Zakir Hossain directed officers-in-charge of over a dozen police stations in Dhaka and other parts of the country to submit progress reports on executing his order by that date as the ACC said all of them were fugitives, the official added.
The same court earlier issued arrest warrants against Hasina, her daughter Saima Wajed Putul, her sister Sheikh Rehana, British MP Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, Rehana's son Radwan Mujib Siddiq and 48 others in connection with the alleged illegal acquisition of land by abusing political power.
The ACC in December launched an inquiry against Hasina and her relatives over allegations of illegally acquiring 60 kathas (1.86 acres) of government plots in Purbachal, abusing state power.
ACC director general Akhtar Hossain said the Hasina family members secretly and illegally acquired six 10-katha plots on Road 203 under now developing Purbachal's Sector 27, which was the proposed Diplomatic Zone of the land development project of state-run Rajdhani Unyan Kartripakkha.
Earlier, the high court had formed a three-member committee headed by a former judge of the same court to investigate irregularities in the allocation of the plots.
In a related development, Hasina's niece British lawmaker Tulip Siddiq claimed that the arrest warrant against her was politically motivated" and there is no evidence that I've done anything wrong".
"No one from the Bangladeshi authorities has contacted me. The entire time, they've done trial by media," she told the Sky TV network in the UK.
Tulip resigned as the minister responsible for financial services and fighting corruption in January after weeks of questions over her financial ties to her aunt, saying the focus on her risked diverting attention from the government's political agenda.
Britain does not currently have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh.
Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal earlier issued two identical arrest warrants against Hasina, her political colleagues and senior civil and military officials on charges like crimes against humanity and enforced disappearance.
The tribunal was formed originally to try hardened collaborators of Pakistan troops during Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War and several of them were tried there and executed as well subsequently after exhausting the appeal process.
A Dhaka court recently ordered the arrest of Hasina and Rehana in line with an ACC charge accusing them of allegedly wasting Taka 4,000 crore for Mujib Centenary celebrations.
ACC alleged that the amount was spent from the national exchequer.
Bangladesh observed the yearlong celebration coinciding with the 100th birthday of Bangladesh's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 2020 while Hasina's Awami League was in power.
Rehana did not hold any official position in the past regime.
ACC chairman Mohammad Abdul Momen earlier this week said there was no difference between the former premier and a typical corrupt individual and the process to bring back a corrupt fugitive is the same, whether it's Hasina or anyone else.
Hasina is also accused of numerous charges like mass murders and crimes against humanity, enforced disappearances while these cases were being filed with Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal.
Hasina's 16-year-long Awami League regime was toppled on August 5 last year in a student-led violent mass uprising. Since then, 77-year-old Hasina has been living in India.
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