At least 100 shopkeepers were sued on Wednesday by the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Dhunat for grabbing government marketplace

UNO Mohammad Ibrahim lodged the case in a court here.

The UNO office and locals said the marketplace, situated on 1.39 acres of land in Goshaibari haat in Goshaibari union under Dhunat upazila of the district, was leased by local trader Mahbub Hossian in 2004, who later sub-leased it to Rasheduzzaman Ujjal, a former chairman of the union.

Ujjal erected 130 brick-built shops in the marketplace without having any permission of the concerned authorities. He later handed over ownership of the shops to 100 people of the areaforTk2 lakh per shop.