Husband of former Paytm vice-president gets bail

NOIDA: The Allahabad high court has granted bail to

Rupak Jain

,

husband

of former Paytm vice-president Sonia Dhawan, who were both in judicial custody after being accused by Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma of stealing his personal data and trying to extort him.


The bail comes two-and-a-half months after Rupak’s bail plea was rejected by additional sessions judge Nalin Srivastava in mid-November. Subsequently, Rupak Jain filed a bail application in Allahabad HC.

According to Rupak’s lawyer Satish Kumar, the bail plea was heard by Justice Vikas Kumar on January 31 who ordered that Rupak’s case was fit for bail.

“We had contended that there wasn’t sufficient evidence against Rupak. No money had been deposited in his bank account and neither was he employed with the company. He had not issued any threats to the complainant. The court was satisfied that there were sufficient grounds to allow the bail plea,” he said.

He said that while the court had orally granted bail, they are awaiting a written order from the court this week after which Rupak is expected to walk out of the jail.

“The court remained closed on Monday due to holiday. We are waiting for the order to be typed,” Kumar said.

While the family had taken Rupak’s bail plea to the high court, Sonia’s bail plea is still being heard at a court in Surajpur. It has been listed for Tuesday.

“Rupak’s case was stronger for getting the bail. We are now looking for Sonia’s bail coming up at the Surajpur court,” Kumar said.

While rejecting Rupak’s bail plea in November, the sessions court had noted the plea that the accused allegedly connived to threaten the complainant and his brother, and out of fear the complainant twice deposited Rs 67 lakh and Rs 2 lakh in a bank account mentioned by a co-accused. “The co-accused, Rohit Chomal, had spoken to the complainant over WhatsApp and mobile which have been recorded. Sufficient proof has been found against the accused in the investigation,” reads the order of the Surajpur court.

Rohit Chomal had taken the names of Sonia, her husband Rupak Jain and an employee of Paytm, Devendra Kumar, stating that they were the people behind the extortion.