Three arrested for alleged attempt to blackmail India’s Paytm founder
NEW DELHI : Indian police have arrested three people, including the spokesman for Paytm, the country's biggest digital payments company, after alleged attempts to blackmail its founder and extort 200 million rupees (S$3.7 million) by threatening to leak stolen personal data.
Police said Ms Sonia Dhawan and her two male accomplices were arrested on Monday after a complaint by Mr Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of Paytm's parent One97 Communication.
"Sharma complained that a female employee and her partners stole some data and demanded 20 crore rupees from him," said senior police official Ajay Pal Sharma on Twitter. One crore is worth 10 million rupees.
"Police are investigating the nature of the stolen data and the modus operandi of the accused people," he said.
Indian media said Ms Dhawan had been a long-time personal assistant to Mr Sharma as well as the company's spokesman.
In a statement to local TV channel NDTV, Paytm confirmed the arrests.
"The employee along with two other accomplices attempted to extort money from Vijay Shekhar Sharma on the pretext of leaking his personal data. We are standing by our colleagues till the police enquiry reaches its meaningful conclusion,", the statement said.- REUTERS
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