The nine-and-half-storied Royal Hospital was built four years ago on the sprawling site and soon emerged as one of the leading private hospitals in the city.

Sources alleged that the hospital when built was eight-storied including the ground floor for parking space as per CDA authorised design but the building owner had defied it completely keeping the hospital directors in the dark. Besides, the owner later had raised another one-and-half story for his personal use, they said.

The authorisation department of CDA served notice two months ago to remove the unauthorised structures and the shops, which were raised on the 1,600 sq.ft ground floor in place of parking lot, but the hospital didn't oblige to it, sources in CDA said.

A team led by magistrate Tahera Ferdous began the four-hour-long drive at 10:00am yesterday and demolished a grocery shop, a pharmacy, and the hospital's reception room from the ground floor.

Dr Shariful Islam, one of the 40 directors of the hospital, blaming the building owner alleged that it was his fault for which they incurred financial loss.

"The owner deliberately hid to us the details of design when we rented the entire building," the director said, adding "the CDA today (Monday) did nothing wrong by demolishing the unauthorised portion of the building."

CDA Authorisation Officer Kazi Fazlul Karim and Chief Engineer Noor Hossain were also present among others during the demolition.