The High Court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail for six weeks to renowned singer and actor Tahsan Khan in a case filed by one of the customers of the controversial e-commerce platform Evaly Limited.
The court asked the actor to surrender in the concerned lower court after six weeks. The HC also asked the trial court to consider his petition after the surrender.
The High Court bench of Justice Sheikh Md Zakir Hossain and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order after hearing a petition filed by the accused.
However, before granting bail, the High Court said, “Celebrities have a lot of responsibilities. Some people just run like crazy when they see you. You have to be more careful about your positions.”
The accused petitioner appeared before the High Court bench for bail through the virtual process during the hearing of the petition.
Lawyer Sanjida Khanam appeared in the hearing on behalf of Tahsan Khan while Deputy Attorney General Md Mohiuddin Dewan represented the state.
Tahsan Khan filed the petition with the High Court recently seeking anticipatory bail in the case.
Sanjida Khanam said, “Tahsan Khan is not an authority of the Evaly Limited. He engaged with the Evaly as Chief Goodwill Officer on March 5 in 2021 and resigned from the post on May 25 in 2021, before filing the case. So the case cannot be run against him.”
A disgruntled customer, Saad Sam Rahman, filed the case with Dhanmondi Police Station on December 4 in 2021, bringing fraud charges against nine accused including three celebrities, Tahsan Khan, Rafiath Rashid Mithila and Sabnam Faria, on a charge of embezzling Tk 0.318 million.
The accused list also included the names of former chairman of Evaly Limited Shamima Nasrin and CEO Mohammad Rassel.
Tahsan was the Chief Goodwill Officer of the Evaly, and Mithila was the face of the company's lifestyle products. Sabnam was the Head of PR, Media, and Communication at the Evaly.
Another High Court bench on December 13 in 2021 granted anticipatory bail for eight weeks to actors Rafiath Rashid Mithila and Sabnam Faria in the case.
The Evaly customer claimed that he had ordered products worth hundreds of thousands of taka from Evaly, which were never delivered to him.
Complainant Saad Sam Rahman said he trusted the e-commerce platform seeing the involvement of the celebrities with the company. He then ordered a motorcycle worth Tk 0.318 million, but did not get it despite reaching out several times, said the case statement.
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