Evaly’s Rassel, wife jailed for two years over embezzlement

A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced Evaly's founding chief executive officer Mohammad Rassel, and his wife Shamima Nasrin, former chairperson of the e-commerce platform, to two years' imprisonment in a case filed over the embezzlement of Tk 14.10 lakh from a customer.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Partha Bhadra pronounced the verdict in their absence in the courtroom.

He also fined them Tk 2,000, in default of which they will have to serve two more months in jail.

The punishment will be effective from the day of their arrest or surrender, said the magistrate in his judgment.

Earlier, the prosecution sought the highest punishment mentioned in the existing law for the couple.

During the trial, the court recorded statements of two prosecution witnesses, including the complainant of the case.

On February 4 last year, Taufiq Mahmud, a customer, filed a case against the couple for misappropriating Tk 14.10 lakh from him.

According to the case statement, Evaly sold various products on different media using "eye-catching advertisements".

Responding to one of the ads, Taufiq ordered a motorbike on March 20, 2021 and paid Tk 2,45,000 for it. On April 3, he ordered two more motorbikes and paid Tk 5,90,000 for those. However, the authorities failed to deliver the three bikes within the stipulated time of 45 days.

Taufiq then contacted Evaly's Dhanmondi office and the authorities concerned issued two cheques as reimbursement. However, the bank requested not to deposit the cheques on the specified date as there was "not enough money".

As none of his money was returned, he sent a legal notice to Evaly on January 28 asking it to return his money within 15 days. That too was not complied with.

On June 2 last year, a Chattogram court sentenced the founding CEO Rassel and former chairperson Shamima to one year in jail in a cheque bounce case.

On December 19 last year, Rassel was sentenced to two years in jail and Shamima sentenced to one in a fraud case.

On September 16, 2021, the couple was arrested from their Mohammadpur residence in the capital in a case filed over fraud and embezzlement.

Shamima was released on bail in April 2022, and Rassel on December 19, 2022.