PayTM Extortion Case: Family of Accused Sonia Dhawan Rubbishes Charge, Says 'She Had Stocks Worth Rs 10 Crore'

New Delhi, October 25: Family of Sonia Dhawan, held by Noida police in PayTM extortion case, has rubbished the charge levelled against her. Questioning the logic behind allegations pressed against Sonia, her mother Rama said "why would she extort Rs 20 crores when she had stocks worth Rs 10 crore" in the company.

Sonia's brother-in-law Kapil Jain said she was unaware of the charge levelled against her even in the police station, and had urged the family members to contact PayTM founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and inform him about the mix-up. Paytm Employees Including Secretary Held For Blackmailing Paytm Boss, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, For Rs 20 Crore.

Sonia has been working along with Sharma since 2007, when she joined him as a personal secretary. Since then, she has emerged as one of the closest aides of the entrepreneur, rising to the post of corporation communications chief in PayTM. "From drawing Rs 6,000 in 2007 to Rs 15 lakh now, Sonia has risen through her hard work," said one of her kin.

On Monday, Noida police arrested Sonia (32), her husband Roopak Jain (38) and another company employee Devendra Kumar (30) for allegedly stealing personal information and confidential data and threatening to leak it.

Their fourth associate, Rohit Chomal, who lives in Kolkata, is absconding, police said.

Police on Tuesday carried out searches at the residences of the three arrested and recovered a pen drive containing crucial information and call records along with a hard disk which has some personal and confidential data of the company, according to officials.

During probe, it came to light that being a long time secretary of the CEO, Dhawan had access to all documents and data of the company, they said.

"Since Dhawan's husband Jain was jobless at the time and had suffered major loss in real estate business so a plan was hatched that she would steal data and give it to Kumar, who works in the administration department of the company, and he would further pass it on to his friend Rohit in Kolkata," the officials said.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Pal Sharma said Dhawan had around 10 months ago conveyed to her boss that she wanted to buy a property for herself in the National Capital Region (NCR).

"When she did not see her communication getting materialised she perhaps opted for this route to make quick money," the SSP told PTI.

He said when the first extortion call was made to the Paytm founder's brother Ajay Shekhar Sharma in September, the amount was decided to be Rs 30 crore which came down to Rs 19 crore after multiple rounds of negotiations.

"When they first made the call on September 20, they demanded Rs 30 crore but later came down to Rs 20 crore. It was much later with a couple of rounds of negotiations that the accused settled for Rs 10 crore," the SSP said.

According to police officials, the accused had even got Rs 2.67 lakh as initial instalments by Sharma, who then approached police and got an FIR registered on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the judicial magistrate on Tuesday denied bail to the three accused and remanded them to 14-day judicial custody, Sharma said.

The police have also seized from Dhawan's Noida residence the print outs of WhatsApp chats that were made between the accused and the Sharma brothers besides four mobile phones used in the crime.

SSP Sharma said Noida Police is now looking to track down Rohit who is absconding since the extortion case came to light. "We are in touch with the Kolkata Police and Rohit is our main target now. We are hopeful of getting him under arrest in the next few days," he said.

(With PTI inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 25, 2018 08:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).