The High Court on Monday granted anticipatory bail for eight weeks to actors Rafiath Rashid Mithila and Sabnam Faria in a case filed by one of the customers of the controversial e-commerce platform Evaly Limited.
Both the actors have been asked to surrender in the concerned lower court after eight weeks and the trial court has been asked to consider their bail petition after their surrender.
The High Court bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Md Atoar Rahman passed the order after hearing on two separate petitions filed by the accused.
The accused petitioners appeared before the High Court bench for bail during the hearing of the petitions.
Lawyers Mohammad Imtiaz Farooq appeared in the hearing on behalf of Mithila and Yusuf Hussain Humayun, ZI Khan Panna and Jesmin Sultana appeared for Faria.
Mithila and Sabnam Faria filed the petitions with the High Court on Sunday seeking anticipatory bail in the case.
A disgruntled customer, Saad Sam Rahman, filed the case with Dhanmondi Police Station on December 4, bringing fraud charges against nine accused including three celebrities, Tahsan Khan, Rafiath Rashid Mithila and Sabnam Faria, on charge of embezzling Tk 318,000.
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 in Evaly.
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 involvement of the celebrities with the company. He then ordered a motorcycle worth Tk 318,000, but did not get it despite reaching out several times, said the case statement.
