Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma was arrested and later released on bail for ramming his car into the official vehicle of South Delhi's Deputy Commissioner of Police in February, news agency ANI said on Sunday.
"On February 22, the police received a complaint of a car ramming into the official vehicle of the DCP of South Delhi near Mother International School, Aurobindo Marg. After the alleged offense, the driver fled. The case under section 279 of IPC was registered on the complaint of Deepak Kumar for rashness and negligent driving," said the Delhi police spokesperson Suman Nalwa.
Nalwa said the offending vehicle after the investigation was found to have been driven by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who was arrested and released later on bail.
The incident allegedly happened outside The Mother's International School on Aurobindo Marg as the children of the school were crossing the road.
The incident took place on February 22 when the DCP South Benita Mary Jaiker's driver had taken her car towards Aurobindo Marg for refilling petrol.
Delhi Police, in its FIR copy, stated, "At that time, there was traffic jam outside Mother International School as the children of the school were crossing the road. At the same time, Sharma's car hit the DCP's vehicle from behind and the driver fled from the spot."
Delhi Police informed that constable Deepak, who was driving the DCP's car, noted down the number of that vehicle and informed the incident to Malviya Nagar Police Station.
Later, the vehicle was traced and found to have been registered in the name of a Gurgaon-based company and from there it was found that the vehicle belonged to Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
Later, the case was registered against Sharma under Section 279 (rash and negligent driving) of IPC and arrested in Malviya Nagar Police Station. However, he was later granted bail from the police station the same day.
However, Paytm spokesperson told Mint, “A complaint was filed in connection with an alleged minor motor vehicle incident. There was no harm caused to any person or property in the said incident".
“The complaint against the vehicle was for a minor offense under a bailable provision of law and requisite legal formalities were completed on the same day," the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked Sharma to stop opening new accounts amid "material supervisory concerns" observed in the bank.
This is the third time that Paytm Payments Bank is facing action from the banking regulator since its inception in May 2017. It has been prohibited from opening new accounts for the second time.
Sharma holds 51% stake in Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL), while the remaining 49% is held by Paytm.
The bank has also been directed to appoint an IT audit firm to conduct a comprehensive system audit of its IT system.
Paytm Payments Bank was incorporated in August 2016 and formally began its operations in May 2017 from a branch in Noida. As per the last disclosed numbers, PPBL had around 6.4 crore customers.
The RBI had in June 2018 too prohibited PPBL from onboarding new customers on account of supervisory concerns. The restrictions were lifted on December 31, 2018.
The central bank had also issued a show cause notice to the firm dated July 29, 2021, stating that Paytm Payments Bank had committed an offence under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 by submitting false information to RBI confirming completion of the transfer of Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit business by One97 Communications to PPBL.
The RBI had imposed a penalty of ₹1 crore on Paytm Payments Bank for the offence.
