Sirajul Islam Rana, the chief operating officer of e-commerce platform Dhamaka, and two others have been arrested by RAB over allegations of fraud and embezzlement.
The three were arrested on Tuesday night over a case filed by a customer of the company at Tongi West Police Station in Gazipur, RAB said in a message.
Additional details regarding the arrest would be available at a press conference later on Wednesday, the law enforcers said.
A businessman from Tongi named Md Shameem Khan filed a case against 11 people, including the Dhamaka chairman and director, at Tongi West Police Station on Sept 23, reports bdnews24.com.
According to the complaint, on Mar 20, Dhamaka Shopping issued many offers on products bought through virtual signature cards on their Facebook page. Shameem Khan made purchases worth over Tk 1.15 million using those offers. Dhamaka then sent him an email invoice confirming his purchase.
However, Shameem says he did not receive the promised goods for 45 days and made a call to the Dhamaka helpline on the 50th day after he made the order. They told him to wait.
A month later Shameem was still waiting for his order to be fulfilled. Instead, he received two checks signed by the Dhamaka MD and director of operations amounting to Tk 1.15 million. But, when he took the checks to the bank, they said the accounts did not have sufficient balance to reimburse him.
On Aug 5 the plaintiff went to Dhamaka COO Md Sirajul Islam. Instead of returning his money, the COO allegedly threatened him.
Shameem accused Dhamaka Shopping Managing Director SMD Jashimuddin Chisty, 57, Chairman Dr M Ali aka Mojtaba Ali, 60, COO Sirajul Islam Rana, 38, DMD Debkar De Shuvo, 32, Director of Operations Nazim Uddin Asif, 28, AZM Head of Accounts Safwan Ahmed, 41, Deputy Manager Amirul Hossein, 46, Engineer Asif Chisty, 26, System Category Head Imtiaz Hassan, 35, Vice President Ibrahim Swapan aka Mithun Khan, 35, and FCA Microcredit Group Deputy Managing Director Nirodh Baran Ray, 45, in the subsequent case.
Police had previously brought a case against Dhamaka Shopping for Tk 1.16 billion in alleged money laundering.
Dhamaka Managing Director Jashimuddin Chisty, five other suspects and three organisations - Microtrade Group, owned by Dhamaka, and its associates Invariant Telecom Ltd and Invariant Technology Ltd - were accused in the case filed at Banani Police Station.
E-commerce platforms lured many buyers during the pandemic with offers and discounts. But many customers have since alleged embezzlement and fraud.
Dhamaka, launched in November last year, made a significant amount of money by offering cars, motorcycles and many other products at 40 to 50 per cent discounts. They even gave 35 per cent discounts on vehicles from expensive brands like Mercedes-Benz.