What next after landmark court ruling in Shumuk House property dispute.

In December 2025, the High Court of Uganda issued a landmark ruling against businessman Mukesh Babubhai Shukla (commonly known as Shumuk) regarding a long-standing property dispute with the family of the late Bonney Katatumba. 

In the ruling, The High Court ordered Mukesh Shukla and his companies to pay UGX 14 billion (approximately $3.9 million) to the heirs of Bonney Katatumba for the illegal occupation of Shumuk House (formerly Katatumba Suites) in central Kampala.

 Justice Stephen Mubiru ordered Shukla to vacate 24 condominium units within the property by March 23, 2026, or face forceful eviction.

According to the report , the court determined that the 2008 transactions used to transfer the property to Shukla were improperly executed and fraudulent, including the award of accumulated "mesne profits" (uncollected rents and benefits) totaling roughly $3.8 million for the 16-year period of unlawful occupation.

How Mukesh reacted to ruling and his plans:

Businessman Mukesh Shukla, popularly known as Shumuk, has revealed that despite the ruling, he will soldier on in defensing business empire.

He said that his ambitious Shumuk house worth several billions is under threat from what insiders describe as a well-organized mafia network determined to sabotage him at any cost.

“A Commercial Dispute Turned Into a Mafia Weapon. Under normal business conditions, such disagreements occur and are handled through negotiation. Yet this one has been magnified and weaponized” he asaid

However, Shukla Mukesh has put up a spirited fight and vowed to defend his empire that he says is threatened with a mafia gang of enemies rallying behind his rivals -the late Katatumba family in a bid to grab his assets.

Through he’s lawyers Deogratious Odekel and Company Advocates Mukesh says their property battle with the Katatumbas is far from over and is still on-going contrary to Press reports and rumours that the courts had reigned over it and handed possession of the disputed properties to the claimants Angela Katatumba and family.

This week the media and particularly a section of several on-line media was awash with news that the High court had reigned over the long-standing property dispute matter and ruled in favour of the Katatumbas hence ordering Shumuk to pay 14B compensation for occupying the premises illegally.

However, the top city lawyers representing the Shumuk Group ltd have dismissed the circulating rumours as “unfounded and baseless” and only intended to cause un-necessary “hullabaloo” and excitement to jeopardise and interrupt with the case.

“We are aware of the circulating rumours in the Press and on-line media about the status quo on the Shumuk Katatumba woes, but we are not moved and we are totally un-bothered about them,” Deogratious Odekel Opolot the Shumuk Group lead council and one of the lawyers representing Shumuk Group said in a Press Statement.

“Those are desperate schemes of a section of those trying to jeopardise the strong case we have against the Katatumbas and a deliberate attempt to try and smuggle justice in their favour, “Odekel further noted in his statement.

“We represent a solid entity (Shumuk Group Ltd) and a high profile personality Mukesh Shukla CEO Shumuk) so we are not bothered by such wasteful fake propaganda about our client or group”, Odekel bragged in his statement to Press.

“Over the years our approach has been different because we as a group believe in a fair justice system that’s why we sought redress in the courts and not in the media, and we are not seeking any cheap avenues of resolving our matters and neither are we hungry for any public sympathy”, he retorted.

The Shumuk-Katatumba saga which stems back to 2009 is one of the longest standing property disputes in Uganda that has taken decades to resolve.

This persecution is not just about tarnishing his name. It is about blocking his Shumuk House projects so that certain individuals can quietly take over the business opportunities it presents.