Evaly Customers Staged a Protest at TCB Building, Presented 7 Demands and Issued a 7-Day Ultimatum
Frustrated by the failure to recover their due payments and allegations of check fraud, customers of the controversial online marketplace Evaly staged a protest in front of the main gate of the TCB building in Karwan Bazar, Dhaka. The protest, which took place on Thursday afternoon, saw the aggrieved customers present seven demands, including the immediate release of their funds from Evaly's payment gateway within seven days.
The other demands are as follows: confiscation of the passports of Evaly's Managing Director Md. Russell and Chairman Shamima Nasrin, and the imposition of a travel ban on them; the issuance of new checks within seven days to customers whose previous checks have expired; issuance of checks to those customers who have not yet received any for their previous orders via the gateway; and the public release of a full list of customers who have received checks as well as those who haven't, along with the settlement of all outstanding payments within 22 working days.
Additionally, the protesters demanded that if Evaly fails to issue refunds as per their demands, the company's assets should be seized and the refunds distributed among the affected customers, while bringing Evaly's management under legal scrutiny. They also called for an investigation and legal action against any individuals who may have aided Md. Russell in obstructing the refund process.
After presenting their demands, around 100 Evaly customers entered the TCB building, bypassing security guards, in an attempt to meet with the Director General (DG) of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP). At that point, three to four police officers arrived and informed the protesters that the presence of such a large crowd could pose a security risk to the important offices housed within the building. The officers suggested that a delegation of the protesters meet with the DG to present their demands, to which the protesters agreed, leading to the situation inside the building returning to normal.
One of the protesters, Md. Imran Khan, a customer of Evaly, said, "We have been deceived by Evaly's Russell and his wife. We have lost everything because of their fraud, and we still haven't received our money back. That’s why we presented our seven-point demand today. After submitting our demands, we attempted to meet with the DG of Consumer Rights at the TCB building, but the security personnel blocked us and injured some of us by pushing. We want to meet the DG to present our demands and find out what actions have been taken to ensure the return of our money."
