Paytm data theft case: Special court denies bail to Rupak Jain

A special court in Delhi rejected the first bail plea of Rupak Jain, the husband of Paytm’s Sonia Dhawan who was arrested last month for allegedly being a part of an extortion bid. The family has now decided to move the Allahabad High Court.

The crime is of "serious nature" because of which bail cannot be granted, said the court order.

Jain was arrested on charges of being in cahoots with his wife Sonia Dhawan, Devendra Kumar and Rohit Chomal for extorting a sum of Rs 10 crore from Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

Dhawan, a long-time secretary of Vijay Shekhar Sharma and the vice president, corporate communications of the online payments firm, was arrested from Paytm's office in Noida in October.

Moneycontrol has learnt that Jain has denied the charges in his bail plea. He has claimed that he is being framed in the case and that the amount of money has not been deposited in any of his accounts. He also claimed that he was not involved with any of the other named suspects in blackmailing and extortion and that he does not even know Rohit Chomal.

While presenting his case in the court, his lawyer, Satish Kumar stressed upon the fact that he was not a Paytm employee and was never found visiting the premises of the payments firm.

Ajay Shekhar Sharma, brother of Vijay Shekhar Sharma had earlier told Moneycontrol that a person [Rohit Chomal] from Kolkata had tried to extort Rs 20 crore by threatening to leak out "some photos and personal financial details" of his brother.

Chomal had apparently taken the names of Dhawan, her husband Rupak Jain and an admin resource of Paytm, Devendra Kumar stating that they were the people behind the plot.

The family had decided to appeal for Jain's bail instead of both Dhawan and Jain.