The commerce ministry should form a special panel to immediately recover the money that got stuck because of Evaly, a group of the merchants and consumers of the e-commerce platform said today.

Representatives from the home, finance and ICT ministries along with Bangladesh Bank, the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-Cab), some merchants, consumers and officials of Evaly can also be included in the panel to take coordinated efforts, they said.

Shutting down the company or keeping Evaly Chairman Shamima Nasrin and Managing Director Mohammad Rassel in jail will not solve the problem, they said in a statement.

They made the call and placed their 7-point demands in a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity today.

Around 75 lakh people, including 74 lakh consumers, over 35,000 sellers and 5,000 temporary and permanent officials, will be in dire straits if the Evaly crisis is not solved immediately, they said.

They claimed that Evaly will be able to pay back around Tk 500 crore it owes to its merchants and consumers if the company is allowed to continue doing business.

Their demands also include the release of Evaly chairman and CEO, monitor and guide Rassel while allowing him to do business and giving the company's CEO more time to deliver the products customers ordered.

On September 16 this year, the Rapid Action Battalion arrested Evaly's chairman and CEO hours after customers filed a case against the couple and some unidentified persons for embezzling money.

On September 28, the e-Cab temporarily suspended the membership of four e-commerce platforms: Evaly, Dhamaka Shopping, Sirajganj Shop and Glitter's RST World.