HC orders seizure of Tk2.5 crore FDR, 10 vehicles of E-orange owner Sonia

The High Court has ordered the seizure of Tk2.5 crore in fixed deposit receipt (FDR) and 10 vehicles of Sonia Mehzabin, owner of the controversial e-commerce company E-orange.

The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat gave the order on Sunday (18 June).

Lawyer M Abdul Qayyum appeared for the writ petitioners in the court and Shamim Khaled Ahmed for Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU). Deputy Attorney General Saifuddin Khaled represented the state.

Lawyer Abdul Qayyum said, "The court ordered the seizure of FDR and the cars till further orders. The BRTA chairman has been ordered not to hand over the cars and has been asked to submit a report on the location of these vehicles.

"The court has set 23 July as the date for the next hearing."

Meanwhile, the prosecution said Sonia's brother, dismissed police inspector Sheikh Sohel Rana, is on the run and a red notice has been issued in this regard.

Sohel Rana, also associated with E-Orange and accused of embezzling customers' money, was arrested on 3 September 2021.

He was detained by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) from the Changrabandha border area in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district on charges of infiltration. Later on 5 September, he was temporarily suspended by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Earlier on March last year, on behalf of 547 customers who were defrauded by buying products worth Tk77 crore from E-orange, six customers named Md Afzal Hossain, Md Arafat Ali, Md Tariqul Alam, Sakibul Islam, Rana Khan and Md Habibullah Zahid filed a writ in the High Court.

The writ sought a ruling with instructions to form a committee comprised of officials from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) to investigate the E-orange owner Sonia Mehzabin, her brother Sohel Rana along with people and institutions that are involved with the company and their personal assets.

After the preliminary hearing of the writ, the High Court ordered an investigation into the allegations of cheating customers, embezzlement and money laundering against E-orange.