The portal of controversial e-commerce company Evaly became unavailable today as its server went down.

In a Facebook post on the verified page of Evaly, the digital commerce platform said its banking activities has been temporarily closed since its Chairman Shamima Nasrin and Managing Director Mohammad Rassel have been behind bars.

Under the circumstances, uncertainty emerged regarding bearing of expenses for server, office maintenance and paying salaries of employees, according to the post.

"We are sincerely sorry that our server has gone down and our effort to restart server has been on," the post read.

The Daily Star tried to contact Evaly's Senior Vice President Mahbi Chowdhury for comment on the issue. He neither responded to calls nor text message.

The e-commerce company, which grabbed a huge number of customers by offering eye-catching discounts on products such as mobile phone, motor bike, came to the spotlight amid rising allegations from customers regrading delayed or no delivery of goods against payments.

Against the backdrop, the commerce ministry requested various government agencies, including home ministry and anti-corruption commission, to take actions against the e-commerce platform.

On September 16, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Evaly's chairman and managing following cases filed by customers. Two days later, Evaly declared that its employees would do home-office until further notice.

In its submissions to the commerce ministry in August and early September, Evaly said total liabilities was Tk 543 crore, including Tk 311 crore to customers. Its dues to merchants were Tk 205 crore.

However, according to Evaly's data obtained by The Daily Star, the e-commerce company owes at least Tk 408 crore to 1,026 sellers.

In its facebook post, Evaly said its chief executive informed through their lawyer that it is possible to overcome all complexities if it gets 4-month time.

Moniruzzaman Rony, a businessperson, said he saw the notice on Evaly's Facebook page that the server was shut down.

"Following the notice, I would have nothing but to give up hope for getting delivery of the product I ordered for," he said.

Rony wanted to buy some products, including mobile phone and microwave oven, by paying Tk 1 lakh against an Evaly's T10 offer in July. The product was supposed to be delivered within ten working days. But Evaly has not delivered the goods yet.