In a complaint filed on July 29 with the Surajpur Lakhnawali police station in the Greater Noida area, PhonePe has alleged that “these actions may form a part of a larger conspiracy to malign the reputation” of the company and to cause “further financial losses.”
The incident came to light when an employee of PhonePe received a message on instant messaging platform WhatsApp on July 28 with a video of the company’s QR codes being burnt.
PhonePe, in its complaint, said the activity took place with “the clear intention of causing wrongful loss to the company’s property.”
ET has reviewed a copy of the complaint.
A spokesperson for the Walmart-owned company confirmed the incident, adding that it had been able to identify the Paytm employees in the video.
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“PhonePe has approached the police based on a video of a pile of its QR codes being set ablaze. We were able to identify some of the people in the video, including a Paytm Area Sales Manager (ASM). We have full confidence in the police, and they are taking the necessary steps at the moment,” the spokesperson said.
The employees against whom the complaint has been filed include Devanshu Gupta, Aman Kumar Gupta and Rahul Pal.
According to the complaint, Devanshu Gupta was working for PhonePe between 2018 and 2022.
In its complaint, PhonePe also said that Gupta, being a former employee, had prior knowledge about the whereabouts of obtaining its QR codes, and had hatched a conspiracy with the others to steal these codes.
Paytm told ET in response that the matter was between its rival and the accused individuals since they were former employees of PhonePe.
“We condemn the act committed by these rogue employees, who have already been suspended from the company pending a detailed investigation. We do not tolerate any act of misconduct and always stand by the highest standards of work ethics,” the spokesperson added.
In 2020, rival payment firms including PhonePe and Paytm had sent legal notices to New Delhi-based company BharatPe for allegedly circulating flyers that tagged its competitors as American or Chinese.
