Paytm extortion case: Police trying to nab 4th accused

Noida :  The Noida police on Tuesday said they were working to nab a man, who was accused of trying to extort Rs 20 crore from Paytm founder with three others by threatening him to leak the confidential data, even as the company assured its customers that their details were protected with high-level security.

On Monday, the police arrested Sonia Dhawan, person secretary to Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma; her husband Rupak Jain; and Devendra Kumar, an employee at the company’s administration department.

A fourth accused Rohit Chomal, a Kolkata resident, who is believed to have made the extortion calls from Thailand, is on the run.

Earlier, on the complaint made by Paytm Vice President Ajay Shekhar Sharma, who is the brother of the founder, a case was registered under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information and Technology Act against the four.

The police said that all the phone numbers concerned were under observation.

“We are minutely watching the activities on the same IP address through which the phone calls were made,” a police officer said.

According to the First Information Report (FIR), Dhawan had been the personal secretary to the CEO for about 10 years and had access to all the files containing the financial data.

Paytm in its statement said, “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.”

 Published on: Oct 23, 2018 at 18:48 IST

IANS