Two e-orange owners sent to jail

A Dhaka court sent e-orange owners —Sonia Mehjabin and her husband Masukur Rahman— to jail on Tuesday.

Alamgir Hossain, a sub-inspector at general record officer of prosecution division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, confirmed the matter to The Business Post.  

“Earlier, the couple surrendered before the court after a case was filed against them by customers. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Abu Bakar Siddique passed the order rejecting their bail pleas,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the morning on the same day over one hundred agitated customers formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club. They chanted slogans like ‘your money, my money, they have to return’; ‘e-orange owner going abroad, stop, stop’ etc.

The protesters sought the intervention of the National Consumer Rights Protection Agency, e-CAB, ICT ministry, commerce ministry and requested cricketer Mashrafe bin Murtaza to look into the matter as he was the company brand ambassador.

Earlier on Monday night, customers filed a case with Gulshan Police Station against the owners and staff of the e-commerce platform, mentioning five names. The accused are Sonia Mehjabin, wife of Masukur Rahman, Amanullah, Bithi Akter and Kausar.

The statement claimed that by not delivering the goods as per the standard operating procedure, the company embezzled around Tk 1,100 crore from about one lakh customers.

Aggrieved customers said that e-orange had not delivered their bikes after May 16, 2021. Currently, their office and customer care services are closed.

“They were supposed to be delivered from the last August 17. But on the same day, they said that they would make the normal delivery from the August 19 and it will take another 45 to 60 days for the delivery of the motorcycles. They are supposed to be delivered within 45 days of the placement of order and four months have already elapsed after the placement of my order for seven motorcycles. They want more time, blaming the deficit of vendors,” said Zeeshan Aslam, one of the agitators.

At this time, customers demanded their bike delivery starting from August 21. On the other hand, if the company wants to refund, they have to issue cheque or pay back in cash within 3-6 days of the order.