Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm made headlines on Monday night as news of his extortion by some blackmailers, including his secretary. Sharma was blackmailed by some people who threatened to filter his personal data and compromise the reputation of his company, One97 Communications. The blackmailers tried to extort Rs 20 from the founder of Paytm before being captured.
Vijay’s former secretary Shekhar Sharma was at her desk in the company’s office in Noida, near Delhi, when a police team came in and arrested her on Monday afternoon. Sonia Dhawan, says the police, stole data and personal information from her boss to use to blackmail Rs. 20 million rupees. She planned the crime with a colleague, Devender Kumar, and her husband Rupak Jain, a property seller.
The biography of Sonia Dhawan on Twitter reveals that she had been promoted to head of communication at the electronic wallet giant. “Hard work is glory, everything else is theory,” he wrote.
According to the police, she had worked with Vijay Shekhar Sharma for 10 years, a period covering the launch and the spectacular increase of Paytm. His colleague Devender Kumar joined when the company started, seven years ago
It is not yet known what data was stolen, but when she was Mr. Sharma’s secretary, Sonia Dhawan had access to her laptop, cell phone and office computer. He allegedly transmitted the data to a fourth man, Rohit Chomal, who made the extortion call to Sharma’s brother, Ajay Shekhar Sharma, who is vice president of the company. “They threatened to cause losses in the company and dent its public image,” said the police.
Chomal, a resident of Calcutta, is missing. He allegedly made the first call on September 20 and demanded Rs. 10 million rupees for the stolen data.
“The owner of Paytm had reported to the police that his employees, a woman and his assistants, had stolen some data from the company and were blackmailing him. They were demanding Rs. 20 million rupees for not filtering it, “said senior police officer Ajay Pal Sharma.
All three have been charged with robbery, extortion, fraud, criminal breach of trust and conspiracy. They have also been charged under the Information Technology Act, police said.
“The employee, along with two other accomplices, tried to extort Vijay Shekhar Sharma under the pretext of filtering his personal data. We are up to our colleagues until the police investigation reaches its significant conclusion, “said the company.