Data theft accused back at Paytm unit

Bengaluru: Former Paytm VP Sonia Dhawan, who was accused of

data theft

and blackmail along with others, is back at the mobile payments and e-commerce major. She has joined Paytm’s gaming business subsidiary —

Paytm First Games

— as its head of corporate communications and marketing, the company said on Friday.

This comes after Dhawan, who was allotted employee stock option plans (ESOPs) of Paytm in June, had joined women-focused community platform

Sheroes

as its communications director in the same month. She is on bail right now as the case, which started in March last year, continues in the court.

Paytm First Games is a joint venture (JV) between Paytm and Alibaba Group’s

AGTech

. TOI reported last month that it was in talks to raise $25 million from new investors including

SAIF Partners

and a Hong Kong-based entity. The company has announced the appointment of two other executives, who will join the gaming unit.

“We are inducting new leaders who will help us to achieve the milestones and become the favourite gaming destination,” said Paytm First Games COO

Sudhanshu Gupta

.

Prior to this, reports had surfaced in June saying Dhawan had rejoined Paytm, but the Noida-based company had then denied it. Following the arrest of Dhawan, her husband Rupak Jain and another Paytm employee Devendra Kumar, the issue had become one of the most talked about topics among the country’s startup circles. Though it was Paytm founder

Vijay Shekhar Sharma

who filed the case, he last year told ET that Dhawan might have been a pawn in someone else’s plan.