Paytm’s founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma was detained by the CBI on October 25th, after a fraud case was filed against him.
Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has been detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning in connection with a fraud case. The Indian entrepreneur has been accused of cheating and criminal conspiracy, according to local media reports. The CBI is investigating allegations that Paytm’s e-commerce business Paytm Mall inflated sales figures to gain investment from SoftBank. Sharma is one of the founders of Paytm, which started out as a mobile payment service before expanding into other areas such as e-commerce and financial services.
The CBI investigation into Paytm began in July 2019 when it started looking into allegations that the company had inflated its sales figures. According to sources close to the matter, this was done in order to get investment from SoftBank, which is an investor in both Paytm and its parent company One97 Communications. The Japanese firm invested $1.4 billion (£1 billion) in One97 Communications back in August 2018.
