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.
As the case gets murkier, with differing versions surfacing, here's what we know so far:
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, demanding 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.
What Paytm Says
*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