Paytm extortion case: Sharma's secretary wanted to buy property

Three persons, including two Paytm employees, arrested for blackmailing and making extortion bid on the e-wallet giant's founder Vijay Shekar Sharma were Tuesday remanded to 14-day judicial custody by the magistrate court in Gautam Buddh Nagar, officials said.

Noida Police had Monday arrested the Paytm CEO's secretary Sonia Dhawan (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 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.