Trial begins against Evaly's Rassel, Shamima in embezzlement case
HC issues Rule to refund taka from Dalal Plus and Eorange
A Dhaka court on Wednesday ordered the start of the trial against the chief executive officer of Evaly, Mohammad Rasel, and the e-commerce company's chairperson Shamima Nasrin over embezzling customers' money.
"Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mehedi Hasan's court framed the charges against the duo on Wednesday and set 18 February for hearing testimonies," said lawyer Ahsan Habib, who represented the accused in the case.
Rassel, who is currently behind bars, was brought to court for the trial. His wife Shamima, who is on bail, did not appear and pleaded for more time through her lawyer.
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The court, however, rejected the plea and issued a warrant for her arrest.
A customer had filed a case with the Gulshan police station alleging embezzlement of Tk3.10 lakh by the company. After investigating the case, police filed a charge sheet in the court.
Launched on 16 December 2018, Evaly sold dreams of becoming the Amazon or Alibaba of Bangladesh. Riding high on a dangerous business model which offered eye-watering, but eventually undeliverable, discounts, Evaly quickly gathered a legion of customers.
They began taking advance payments, initially delaying deliveries before failing to send products entirely.
On 15 September last year, the Evaly customer filed the embezzlement case against Mohammad Rassel and his wife Shamima Nasrin.
The Rapid Action Battalion arrested Rassel and Shamima during a raid of their residence in the capital's Mohammadpur area the day after the case was filed.
HC issues rule to refund monwy from Dalal Plus and Eorange
The High Court on Wednesday asked the authorities concerned to explain within four weeks why it would not take initiatives to re-fund about TK13 crore to the customers of the controversial e-commerce companies Dalal Plus and Eorange.
After hearing on two separate writs of 42 customers, Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Biswajit Debnath passed the order.
The commerce secretary, home secretary, law secretary, Bangladesh Bank governor, BFIU chief, inspector general of police, SLL Commerce and Surya Pay managing director, Dalal Plus and Eorange chairpersons were asked to respond to the rule.
From June to September 2021, 42 customers paid Tk9.57 crore to buy various products from Dalal Plus. At the same time, the customers paid around Tk3 crore to Eorange to purchase various products.
The writ was filed after the companies failed to deliver the products despite taking the payments.
Advocate ASM Sayem Ali Pathan moved for the writ while Deputy Attorney General Tushar Kanti Roy appeared for the state.
