Alesha Mart chairman arrested for fraud, money laundering
Over a 100 fraud cases filed by customers against him
Manjur Alam Sikdar, chairman of e-commerce company Alesha Mart, was arrested on Saturday night from Banani area in the capital on charges of fraud and money laundering.
Deputy Commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Gulshan Division, Rifat Rahman Shamim, has confirmed the arrest to the media.
"He was absconding since the customers began protesting and filing cases against him. Somehow he managed to flee the country. Recently, we got a tip-off that he is back and promptly we arrested him," he said.
Police said there are over a hundred cases of fraud filed by the customers against Manjur that led to his arrest and that he will soon be produced before a Dhaka court.
Earlier on 16 May last year, a case was filed under the Money Laundering Act, 2012 against him and four others from Alesha Mart with the Banani Police Station.
A Dhaka Court ordered to freeze all properties of Alesha Mart on 21 June 2023 and barred four persons, including the company Chairman Monjurul Alam Shikder, from travelling abroad.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has accused him of laundering over Tk421 crore.
Despite declaring an income of only Tk13.9 lakh for the 2020-21 financial year, Monjurul alleged purchased assets worth Tk31 crore between 31 January and 25 August in 2021.