Alesha Mart boss jailed in fraud case

A Dhaka court on Monday convicted and sentenced Manjur Alam Shikder and Sadia Chowdhury, Chairman and Managing Director (MD) of e-commerce platform Alesha Mart respectively, to four-year jail each in a fraud case.

The court also fined them Tk7,000 each or to suffer three months more behind bars, court clerk Mainul Haque told BSS.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Minhazur Rahman pronounced the judgment in absence of the two convicts and issued arrest warrant against them.

According to the case documents, plaintiff Alauddin Hossain on August 15, 2021, ordered three Bajaj Motorcycles from Alesha Mart on the offer price of total Tk3, 24,000. He paid the money through bank deposit. 

The company, however, failed to provide him the bikes within the stipulated time. They provided a cheque to Alauddin, which ultimately got bounced on April 21, 2022.

The plaintiff on August 4, 2022, filed the case against Alesha Mart Chairman Manjur Alam Shikder and MD and Shikder’s wife Sadia Chowdhury. 

The court on December 15, 2024, framed charges against the accused. The accused, however, remained fugitive since the commencement of the trial.