Police have arrested E-Needz chairman Wahid Iqbal Marshall in a case alleging the misappropriation of Tk3.50 crore paid by a customer for motorcycles that were never delivered, marking a fresh legal development in one of Bangladesh’s most controversial e-commerce scandals.
Marshall was arrested on Sunday night from a restaurant in Banani and produced before a Dhaka court on Monday. The court rejected his bail petition and sent him to jail.
The next hearing has been set for 24 June.
The case was filed on 18 May by businessman Syed Ikbal Hasan Mahmud under sections 406, 420, 506 and 109 of the Penal Code. E-Needz Managing Director Nahid Iqbal and Director Sayma Afrin have also been named as accused.
According to the complaint documents, the complainant paid Tk3.50 crore in September 2021 to purchase 344 motorcycles through the E-Needz online platform. The amount included Tk3.31 crore for 325 motorcycles and Tk19.35 lakh for another 19 motorcycles.
The complaint alleges that E-Needz promised delivery within 15 working days but failed to supply any of the motorcycles. After repeated requests, the company allegedly assured the customer that the money would be refunded instead.
Court filings state that the accused later issued cheques for the full amount in February 2022 and again in December 2023, while allegedly requesting the complainant not to deposit them and promising repayment in cash.
The complainant alleged that despite repeated assurances and settlement discussions between 2023 and 2025, the money was never returned.
The case further alleges that on 7 May this year, when the complainant again sought repayment at the company’s office, he was threatened and forced to leave the premises.
E-Needz became one of the most widely discussed names during Bangladesh’s e-commerce crisis in 2021, when several online platforms faced allegations of collecting advance payments from customers without delivering promised products. The latest case relates to a transaction dating back to that period.
