Detectives arrested Evaly’s Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Rassel and his wife Shamima Nasrin early Tuesday.
DMP Deputy Commissioner (Media and Public Relations) Muhammad Talebur Rahman confirmed their arrests in a press release.
A team from the Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested the two from the Dhanmondi area in Dhaka. There are 391 warrants pending against them.
Earlier, on 16 September 2021, police arrested Rassel and Shamima, also the Evaly chairperson, from their residence in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur on charges of fraud and embezzlement. Shamima was released on bail in April 2022, while Rassel was released in December of the same year.
On Monday, a Dhaka court sentenced Rassel and Shamima to 15 months of rigorous imprisonment each in a fraud case filed over deceiving a customer.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbub Alam also fined the convicts Tk500 each, in default, to serve three months more in jail. As neither of the accused was present at the time of the verdict, the court issued arrest warrants against the two.
According to the prosecution, Evaly authorities lured customers with attractive advertisements and lucrative offers on various products with the intention of cheating them. Acting on such promotions, the complainant, Md Bazlur Rahman, paid Tk61,140 in advance on 4 June 2021, using a Standard Chartered Bank debit card to purchase a Honda Livo 110cc motorcycle.
The company allegedly failed to deliver the product within the stipulated time and repeatedly delayed delivery while giving assurances to the buyer, even requesting him not to initiate legal action.
Later, following media reports that Evaly’s operations had been shut down, Bazlur Rahman visited the company’s office and found it closed. Later he filed the case with the court on 24 September 2024. After investigation, charges were framed against the accused on 25 August last year.
