Evaly CEO Rassel remanded in case filed by supplier

 A Dhaka court has remanded Evaly CEO Mohammad Rassel for one day in a case filed by a supplier with the Dhanmondi police station on charges of embezzlement.

On Tuesday, Metropolitan Magistrate Md Hasibul Haque passed the order after police produced Rassel and his wife Shamima Nasrin, chairperson of the online marketplace, before it following a three-day remand over fraud charges brought by a customer.

The investigating officer moved a petition for seven days to quiz the couple in custody in the case filed with the Dhanmondi police.

The court granted police a day to interrogate Rassel, but turned down the petition to remand Nasrin and sent her to jail.

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One Kamrul Islam Chakdar filed the embezzlement case with Dhanmondi police station on Saturday against 12 people, including Rassel and Nasrin, and 15 to 20 unidentified persons.

Kamrul, who had supplied Tk36 lakh worth of goods to the e-commerce platform, was yet to be repaid, prompting him to lodge the embezzlement case.

Police escort Evaly Chairperson Shamima Nasrin to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune

According to the supplier, Evaly did not pay his dues till January and then gave a cheque in May dated June 30 that bounced due to insufficient funds in those accounts.

Kamrul claimed he had also received death threats from Evaly officials.

Other accused Evaly officials are Vice President Akash, Manager Jahedul Islam Hemoy, Senior Accounts Manager Tanvir Alam, Senior Executive Commercial Jawadul Haque Chowdhury, Head of Accounts Selim Reza, Accounts Manager Zubair Al Mahmud, Accounts Officer Sohel, Akibur Rahman Turzo, Rassel's PS Md Rezwan, and Bike Department's Shakib Rahman.

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The supplier filed the case on Saturday night, two days after Rassel and Nasrin were arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) bring Evaly founder and CEO Mohammad Rassel, and his wife Shamima Nasrin, chairperson of Evaly, in front of the media after detaining them from their Mohammadpur residence in the capital on Thursday, September 16, 2021  Collected After a customer filed an embezzlement case with Gulshan police station, RAB raided their flat in Dhaka's Mohammadpur on Thursday and detained them before turning them over to police the next day.

After initial interrogation, RAB claimed, quoting Rassel and Nasrin, that Evaly owed more than Tk1,000 crore to its customers and suppliers but had only Tk30 lakh in its bank account.

Rassel had planned to float Evaly shares in the stock market after running his company for three years. He had also planned to declare himself bankrupt after failing to repay the debt, RAB said at a press conference on Friday.