Two Paytm employees, including a woman, were among three people arrested on Monday for allegedly trying to extort Rs 20 crore from the e-wallet giant’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma after threatening to leak stolen personal data and information, Noida Police said.

The arrested woman, who allegedly masterminded the extortion bid, is the secretary of Vijay Shekhar Sharma and the trio had threatened to leak the data and misuse the information to cause the firm loss and dent its public image, officials said.

The three employees of the Noida-headquartered e-commerce and wallet firm were arrested late Monday afternoon by a team from the Sector 20 police station, while their fourth accomplice is still at large, a senior official said. According to the police, those arrested are Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s woman secretary (identity withheld), her husband Roopak Jain and another Paytm employee Devnedra Kumar.

The fourth accused, Rohit Chomal, is a resident of Kolkata and had allegedly made the extortion call to Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s brother Ajay Shekhar.

“The owner of Paytm had made a complaint with the police that their employees, a woman and her aides, had stolen some data from the company and were blackmailing. They were demanding Rs 20 crore for not leaking it,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ajay Pal Sharma said.

“Taking immediate action on it, an FIR was registered and three persons, including the woman, arrested. They are being probed about the data and their modus operandi. Police will share the facts as they are unearthed,” Ajay Pal Sharma said.

The SSP said they will seek their custody to interrogate them further and gather more details. Police were not clear as to what kind of data was stolen.

He said that the local police are in touch with their counterparts in Kolkata to track down Rohit Chomal, who allegedly made the extortion call to Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s brother.

The FIR was registered at Sector 20 police station and the accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 381 (theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master), 384 (extortion), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt), 420 (cheating), 408 (Criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant) and 120 B (party to a criminal conspiracy). Charges under the provisions of the Information Technology Act have also been pressed against the accused, the police said.

When contacted, Paytm confirmed in a statement that the Noida Police have arrested three people, including one female employee of Paytm, in the case of extortion.

“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 company said.

PTI

By : Pramesh S Jain

“Drug Awareness campaign on drug abuse helped the cops to nab the drug peddlers”.

The west Division police of K.P.Agrahara police have arrested a man on charges of drug peddling and recovered 750 grams of opium worth Rs 3 lakh from him.

The accused has been identified as Beraram (32) resident of Pantharpalya near Nayandahalli.

A tip off was passed on the basis of the awareness campaign on drug abuse was carried out by West Division Police and entire Bengaluru city police.

Senior officer said,based on credible information the K.P.Agrahara police inspector and his crime staff went near Gopalan residency in Telecom Layout where Beraram was waiting for customers.The police team surrounded the area and arrested the accused red handed and seized 50 grams of opium.For further investigation the team took the accused to to his house where he used to store all the drugs.

During the search the team found 700grams of Opium altogether 750gm of opium worth Rs.3 Lakh was seized from his possession and a detailed investigation the accused spilled the beans and revealed that he brings the drugs from Rajasthan by train and sell it to youths and college students.The K.P.Agrahara police have registered a case under NDPS Act against the accused and further investigation is on to unearth the source of drugs and finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,T.Suneel Kumar,has appreciated Addl CP,Seemath Kumar Singh,DCP West,Ravi.D.Channanavar,ACP, Vijayanagar Sub-division,Parameshwar Hegde,PI,S.S.Manju,and his crime staff as,Nagarajappa,Arjun kamble,Mumtaz Pasha,and Narendra who has done a tremendous job and successfully nabbed the notorious drug peddler he added.

A shocking incident of two Rajasthani women having been allegedly “sold off to recover dowry” has come to light on Monday in Virar town here, officials said.

Following sustained efforts by social activists, Virar Police on October 9 booked a dozen persons including a chartered accountant and a businessman, besides their family members and other associates, in the case, Investigating Officer Lakshmi Borkar told IANS.

According to the complaint, the two women — both sisters in their 20s, hailing from Rajasthan — were married on March 10, 2015 with two brothers, businessman Sanjay Raval and Varun Rawal, a CA — both based in Virar, around 60 km from Mumbai.

Six months after their wedding, the Ravals and their family members started harassing the sisters for dowry as the Sanjay and Varun wanted to buy a shop to launch a new business.

Somehow the victims’ family managed to raise Rs 5,00,000 and handed it over to the Ravals, but later they demanded another Rs 4,00,000.

The two daughters-in-law said it was not possible for their middle-class parents to raise such a huge amount again, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

The sisters were subjected to physical torture and mental trauma by their husbands and members of the Raval family.

On August 30, the Raval family took the two women to a village in Rajasthan’s Pindwara town of Sirohi distict and kept them in captivity.

For 10 days, several men including some relatives came and physically abused the two sisters and then ordered them to go back to the Raval family in Virar.

They sent an unknown person to accompany the two sisters to Virar, but when the train stopped at Vasai, their escort seized their bags and barred them from getting off.

This led to an altercation in full view of the co-passengers inside the train and the escort said they could not get off at Vasai but at Mira Road, in adjoining Thane district.

The escort was also heard shouting that he had “paid Rs 1,50,000 for the two women and now he would recover that amount fully before freeing them”.

Fortunately for the distraught sisters, some co-passengers intervened and allowed them to deboard at Vasai before the train departed.

The sisters went back to their home in Suman Complex and narrated their sad plight to the neighbours.

A few neighbours accompanied the sisters to the police to lodge a complaint against the Raval family, but for nearly a month, the police reportedly dodged the issue.

It was only after the neighbours and some local social activists approached the higher police authorities that the complaint was finally registered on October 9 naming 12 accused in the case.

They include: the victims’ husbands, Sanjay and Varun Raval, their father-in-law Mohanlal Raval, mother-in-law Leeladevi Raval, some uncles, aunts, a few relatives and other outsiders.

Borkar said an investigation was underway and no arrests have been made.

Independent sources revealed that the two prime accused Raval brothers — Sanjay and Varun — have reportedly gone underground.

The police have slapped serious charges against them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) pertaining to dowry demand, mental and physical torture, kidnapping, Borkar added.

IANS

The prime witness in the case of a Kerala nun’s rape, allegedly by Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the Jalandhar diocese, has died. Father Kuriakose Kattuthara, who had testified against the rape-accused priest, was found dead in his room at 10 am on Monday in a church in Bhogpur in Jalandhar.

While several priests, as well as his family, have alleged a conspiracy into the death, Father Peter, Mulakkal’s spokesperson from the Jalandhar diocese, asserted that Kattuthara’s death was “natural”.

“We got to know about this at 10 am today (Monday). Bishop (Franco Mulakkal) has no connection with the death of Father Kattuthara, as there was no personal enmity between them,” Father Peter was quoted as saying by CNN-News18.

The prime witness in the Kerala nun’s rape case, Father Kattuthara had also supported the protest several nuns had staged against rape-accused Mulakkal. His body has been sent for an autopsy, and the report is awaited.

Franco Mulakkal was arrested on 21 September on a nun’s complaint that he had raped her at least 13 times between 2014 and 2016. He was released from a sub-jail near Kottayam on 17 October, a day after the Kerala High Court granted him bail. He had received a rousing welcome from his supporters on reaching Jalandhar after his release.

Kattuthara was facing threats and his car was recently attacked. His sister-in-law told media
“Franco Mulakkal was threatening him from along time. We had filled a police complaint. We suspect foul play.”

Sister Anupama, who had led the nuns’ protests against Mulakkal, called Kattuthara’s death “mysterious” and said “it needs to be investigated thoroughly”.

IANS

The Kerala Crime Branch on Sunday registered a case against former state chief minister Oommen Chandy and Member of Parliament from Alappuzha K C Venugopal after a complaint of sexual harassment was filed against them by Solar scam accused Saritha S Nair.

Confirming the development, Director General of Police Loknath Behara said the cases against the two leaders were lodged on the basis of a complaint from Nair. “Let the law take its own course,” he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram. A Special Investigation Team, headed by Superintendent of Police Abdul Karim, was constituted to probe the cases, the DGP added.

Chandy, reacting to the development, said they were prepared to face the cases legally. He claimed the cases were “politically motivated”. By lodging the cases, the attempt of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in the state is attempting to divert the attention of the people from the ensuing Sabarimala issue, Chandy told reporters.

Nair alleged in her complaint that Chandy had sexually exploited her at Cliff House, the official residence of the chief minister, in 2012, while Venugopal had raped her at Rose House, the residence of then-state minister A P Anil Kumar.

The previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government had formed the G Sivarajan Commission when the allegations had surfaced against Nair and Biju Radhakrishanan that they had duped several people of crores of rupees by offering them solar panel solutions in 2013.

The 1,073-page, four-volume report of the Commission, tabled in the state Assembly on November 9 last year, had found that Chandy and four of his personal staff – Tenny Joppan, Jikkumon Jacon, gunman Salimraj and Kuruvilla, his aide in Delhi – had “assisted” Nair and her company, Team Solar, in enabling them to cheat their customers.

The report also contained details of the controversial letter written by Nair on 19 July 2013 to the police commissioner, in which she had levelled charges of sexual misconduct and corruption against various Congress and UDF leaders, including Chandy, some of his ministers and two former Union ministers.

The Kerala High Court had in May this year annulled the Commission’s findings against Chandy based on Nair’s letter, while partly allowing a petition filed by the Congress leader that sought to quash the panel’s findings against him.

As #MeToo allegations pile up against Anu Malik, another singer has come forward to call him out for his alleged sexual misconduct. Singer Alisha Chinai, who recorded several hit songs with Malik during the 1990s, has claimed that every word said and written about the Bollywood music-composer is “true”.

Chinai has also said that she stands by all the women who have spoken up against Malik.

“Every word said and written about Anu Malik is true. I stand by all the women who have finally spoken up. May they find peace and closure in their lives,” Chinai was quoted as saying by The Asian Age.

For the uninitiated, during the release of Chinai’s hit track Made in India, the singer had accused Malik of molesting her. The two did not work together for several years, only to reunite in 2003 with Ishq Vishk.

Recently, singer Shweta Pandit accused Malik of sexually harassing her when she was 15. In a long Twitter post, Pandit recounted her ordeal and called Malik a “pedophile”. She also thanked singer Sona Mohapatra for calling him out and urged others who have been exploited by him in the past, to speak up. Mohapatra accused Malik of being a “serial offender” and alleged that he would call her at odd hours.

Meanwhile, Malik has been fired from the singing reality show Indian Idol by Sony Entertainment Television in the wake of the numerous allegations of sexual harassment that have been levelled against him by multiple women.

On Saturday, two more women came forward to accuse Malik of sexual harassment.

In her alleged encounter with Malik, the first woman recalled that the composer “rubbed his body” against her and when she expressed shock at his behavior, he apologized meekly.

Another woman, who is an aspiring singer, alleged that she was approached to participate on Indian Idol 10 as a wild card entry but she refused the offer because Malik had sexually harassed her seven years ago.

However, Malik dismissed as “ridiculous” the allegations that have been levelled against him by Pandit. He also denied knowing Mohapatra.

Malik has yet to comment on the latest development.

A man was on Sunday arrested on the charge of killing his wife, police said.

Kamil suspected Reshma, 22, to be in an extra-marital affair, and strangled her to death after an argument.

Kamil, a resident of central Delhi’s Kamla Market, walked into the police station and informed the officers that he had killed his wife after a fight.

“A police team visited Kamil’s residence and found the body of her wife, identified as Reshma, 22, lying on the mattress. Her face had turned bluish. Kamil was later arrested,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Mandeep Singh Randhawa said.

During interrogation, he revealed that he suspected Reshma’s character and thought she was involved in an extra-marital affair. Kamil used to have frequent fights with Reshma over the issue, the police officer said.

“Following an argument between the husband and the wife on Saturday, Kamil strangled her to death.

He was, however, filled with remorse after Reshma had died, the officer added.

IANS

A woman was allegedly gang-raped brutally in a secluded area in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, police said on Sunday.

“The homemaker of Madhyapara area was alone when two persons, Parimal Rai and Ratnu Munda, took her away and raped her on Saturday night. Today we received a complaint and based on the victim’s statement we arrested both of them,” a police officer of Dhupguri police station said.

The woman in her late twenties was admitted to the local hospital with severe injuries.

The police officer said there are reports that the victims was subjected to severe atrocities. “The investigation is going on,” he added.

IANS

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council chairman Ramesh Yadav’s wife Meera Yadav was on Monday arrested for killing her 23-year-old son Abhijit Yadav, police said.

She was detained late on Sunday for interrogation, during which she broke down and accepted strangulating her own son.

Abhijt Yadav was found dead in the official Darulshafa legislators flat on Sunday. Preliminary reports called it a “cardiac arrest”.

Meera Yadav told family members and neighbours that her son had come back drunk late on Saturday. He was restless through the night. She had applied soothing balm on his chest when he complained of pain on his left arm.

He never woke up, she told neighbours.

The son’s body was on its way to the cremation ground when the police intervened after some family friends alleged foul play.

Lucknow’s Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani ordered an autopsy which confirmed “strangulation” as the cause of death.

Meera Yadav, who is the second wife of Ramesh Yadav, also kept changing her accounts of the tragedy which spiked police suspicion.

Sarvesh Mishra, superintendent of police (SP-East) said the accused told the police that her drunk son misbehaved with her. In a fit of rage, Meera Yadav then strangulated him.

The MLC’s wife had quit her job at the state Tourism Department not long back. She was living at the Darulshafa flat with her two sons Abhishek and Abhijit.

IANS

A 28-year-old passenger has been arrested for allegedly molesting a female flight attendant on board a Bengaluru-bound IndiGo plane before its departure from the Mumbai airport, a police official said Thursday.

Raju Gangappa, a resident of Bengaluru, allegedly pressed the back of the 20-year-old flight attendant while he was passing by her and when she reprimanded him, he abused her, the official said giving details of incident which occurred on Tuesday.

She informed her seniors about the incident following which the person was offloaded along with his baggage, he said.

The official said he was handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials and later taken into custody by the airport police.

Gangappa has been booked under IPC section 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with an intent to outrage her modesty), he said.

Following his arrest, he was produced in a Mumbai court on Wednesday, which remanded him in police custody for a day, the official said. He will again be produced before a court Thursday, he added.

A probe was underway in the case, the officer said.

IndiGo did not respond to a query on the issue.

PTI