Paytm case accused Sonia Dhawan joins Sheroes

Sonia Dhawan, a former Paytm executive and prime accused in an extortion case involving company founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, has joined Sheroes. She will be director of corporate communications at the social network for women in which Sharma is also a stakeholder. The case against Dhawan, who has denied any attempts at blackmail, is still going on in court.

Separately, regulatory filings show that on June 6 the Paytm board allotted equity shares to six employees, including Dhawan, who had applied to exercise options vested under the employee stock ownership plan (Esop).

“This is likely a precursor to a full and final settlement,” said a source aware of the matter.


In March, Paytm issued a statement that said “no accused is joining back the company till the time the court matter is concluded.”

Other persons allotted stock include Sudhandhu Gupta, Nitin Misra and Deepak Abott for a combined 35,434 shares, according to the regulatory filings.

Sharma was an early investor in Sheroes, which also counts Binny Bansal and Rajan Anandan as angel investors. It’s backed by Lumis Partners, 500 Startups and The HR fund and has raised $4.5 million till date.

“Sonia joined us a week ago,” Sheroes founder Sairee Chahal told ET in an email.

Paytm’s Sharma is a board member of Applied Life Private Ltd, which runs Sheroes, regulatory filings show. Chahal joined Paytm Payment Bank’s board as an additional director in March.

Confirming her appointment, Dhawan said, “It’s good to be back to the normal work routine. With my experience in building brands and public relations, I am confident to make a new beginning... I am innocent and I expect the court case to conclude in the coming time.”

The former vice president of communications and public relations at the company had spent nearly five months in jail after Paytm senior vice president and the founder's brother Ajay Shekhar Sharma lodged a first information report (FIR).

Granted Bail by Allahabad HC

The first information report (FIR) alleged that Dhawan, along with three other accused, had stolen private data and tried to extort Rs 10 crore.

She was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court in March.

Dhawan, in her plea before the high court, “claimed innocence and laid stress on the fact that there is nothing concrete emerging against her and it cannot be said that the applicant ever indulged in any illegal activity secretly obtaining any data from the laptop of any device of the informant or his company and she never blackmailed as such.”