Dhaka Bureau: Manzoor Alam Shikder, chairman of e-commerce company Alesha Mart, has been arrested. Police say there is an arrest warrant against Manzoor in more than 100 customer fraud cases.
Manzoor was arrested in the Banani area of the capital on Saturday (January 13). Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Gulshan Division Deputy Commissioner Rifat Rahman Shamim confirmed the matter to the media.
Rifat Rahman said that there is a case against Manzoor under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The plaintiff in this case is the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police. There are hundreds of court warrants against him.
He said that the chairman of Alesha Mart has been arrested and sent to court.
According to information provided by CID, Alesha Mart received registration from the Directorate of Joint Venture Companies and Firms on July 26, 2020. The company took a trade license from the North City Corporation of Dhaka on November 10, 2020. Alesha Mart’s journey officially started on January 7, 2021.
The company came into the market with the slogan ‘Achi To Amra Achi To’. The then-Commerce Minister, Tipu Munshi, himself inaugurated it.
After the start of the journey, the company takes advance money from the customers to supply various electronic products, including motorcycles, at a low price. However, CID claims that they are doing money laundering by cheating under the cover of an e-commerce business without giving products or refunding money to many customers.
Regarding the Alesha Mart fraud, the CID said that Alesha Mart had withdrawn Tk 421 crore from four private banks. Apart from this, immovable assets worth Tk 31 crore have been purchased in the name of Alesha Mart Chairman Manzoor and his related organizations. The asset was purchased between January 31 and August 25, 2021.
Biplab Ali Arafat, president of Alesha Mart’s affected customers’ organization, told the media that most of Alesha Mart’s customers are students of various universities. They are depressed after losing money.
