Two days after three people were arrested for allegedly trying to extort Rs 20 crore from Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the lawyer of one of the accused – Sonia Dhawan – has sought to counter the police's version. The lawyer has questioned as to why she would do something like this when she was promoted in the company only recently.
Dhawan was a long-term secretary of Vijay Shekhar Sharma and was later promoted to be the vice president of corporate communications/public relations at Paytm. She was arrested on Monday, 22 October, along with husband Roopak Jain and another Paytm employee, Devendra Kumar. The fourth accused, Rohit Chomal, who allegedly made the extortion call, is absconding.
The trio had allegedly threatened to leak the data that they had obtained and misuse the information to cause the firm loss and dent its public image. Police maintains that Dhawan masterminded the extortion bid. On Tuesday, 23 October, the three accused were remanded to 14-day judicial custody by the magistrate court in Gautam Buddh Nagar.
As the case gets murkier, with differing versions surfacing, here's what we know so far:
Who is Sonia Dhawan?
- Sonia Dhawan started at Paytm as a personal secretary to the founder, and has previously worked at Times Internet as a business operations manager and as a corporate officer at Cairn India.
- Having had a ten year association with Paytm, Dhawan has been known to be a star performer at the organisation, and was promoted to the position of vice-president at One97 Communication (the parent organisation of Paytm) this year itself. Her salary package was around 70 lakh. Her lawyer told The Hindu that her success story was one of the factors that ‘got her into this mess’.
- The then vice president of One97 Communications, Dhawan’s LinkedIn profile states that she has an MBA from Sunstone Business School, and she has also attended IMT Ghaziabad for her post gradate diploma in HR management.
- According to her lawyer, there was an internal pressure on her to sell the employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) she owned. She held equity shares worth Rs 10 Crore at One97 Communication and was to get another 3,000-4,000 ESOPs for the current financial year. Since these ESOPs valuate to a several crores, her lawyer states that her motive to blackmail is unclear, according to The Hindu.
What Sonia Dhawan's Lawyer Says
- After her arrest, Sonia Dhawan's lawyer Prashant Tripathi said there has been an attempt to frame her.
- Defending the accused former employee, Tripathi has pointed that the promoters of Paytm were pressurising her to sell her stake in the company, reported Moneycontrol.
- The lawyer has even claimed that Dhawan and her husband, Roopak Jain, got a ransom call themselves, following which Jain filed a police complaint, but no action was taken, reported News18. The caller, Tripathi claimed, demanded extortion money and even allegedly issued a death threat.
- Lastly, the lawyer drew attention to Dhawan's recent promotion and her long association with the company to question as to why she would do something like this.
What Dhawan's Family Says
- Indicating that the accusations against Sonia Dhawan are motivated, one of her cousins told Moneycontrol, "She was promoted to the position of vice-president (corporate communications) of Paytm just a month ago. She had been associated with this company for almost 10 years. Why would she want to do something like this?”
What Police Says
- The Noida police continues to investigate Sonia Dhawan and the two others in the extortion case while working to nab the fourth accused, Rohit Chomal, with the help of the Kolkata police.
- Police are in possession of more than 128 GB worth of stolen data, with more than 1,000 pages, some of which could be damaging to the company, reported Hindustan Times.
- This data includes passwords, encrypted emails, PIN of Paytm accounts and cash cards of Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the business model of Paytm along with its plans and schemes, and its financial dealings, it was reported.
“We are sifting through the data with the help of cyber cell officers. The data contained important passwords, among other things.”Ajay Pal Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police, Gautam Budh Nagar, to Hindustan Times.
- The police has also pointed out that the blackmailing conspiracy was hatched around two months ago, possibly triggered by the company's bosses ignoring Dhawan's request for financial help to buy a house, reported The Indian Express.
What Paytm Says
- Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma was quoted by Business Standard as saying, "I'm stunned and want to figure out the truth. I have always believed her (Sonia Dhawan). It is possible that she has been used as a conduit. Cops will unearth the truth."
- Sharma also said that they are on Dhawan's side, while calling for her help in the police investigation.
- On the allegation by Dhawan's lawyer that there was pressure on her to sell the ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plan), the Paytm CEO pointed out that the prerogative of buying or selling ESOPs lies with the person who owns them, Business Standard further reported. He further admitted that there was indeed a conversation over Dhawan "buying an expensive house, but she (Dhawan) did not directly ask for any money."
- On Tuesday, 23 October, Patym released a statement assuring that its consumer data was safe.
“This is a case of personal data theft of Vijay Shekhar Sharma, where three arrests were made yesterday. Paytm would like to reiterate that all our consumer data is protected with the highest and most impenetrable levels of security. At this point, the law enforcement authorities are investigating this matter and we would like to respect the police investigation, and not comment further until the results of such investigation are known.”Paytm statement
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)