Software boss arrested after employee complaints
By Rahul Kumar

New year 2009 began on a bad note for the Managing director of a software solutions company, E-ware Technologies of Gurgaon, as a local Court remanded him into 14-day judicial custody in Gurgaon Jail on Jan 2. E-ware MD Rajeev Nagpal and HR manager Shalu Sharma were arrested on Dec 30 by police on charges of criminal breach of trust and intimidation inflicted on engineers.

About a dozen software engineers, mostly fresher, had alleged that the company had refused to refund the security deposit as well as salaries due to them.  The MD remained on police remand for two day till January 1 when he was produced in a local court. The HR Executive was freed and granted bail, however, on the same day of the arrest by the court. 

The police officer investigating the case said that the MD of E-ware Technologies Rajiv Nagpal and HR executive Shalu Sharma were arrested and booked under 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC. One of the software engineers Atul Yadav said that he had joined the company on July 7 this year after depositing a security deposit of Rs. 50,000. He said that the company would ask all new employees to pay the security deposit before handing over the appointment letter.   "I however, fell ill after two weeks of working with the company and could not resume my job. But when I approached the company to ask the security deposit back, the company refused to oblige and turned me away. Several visits made by me also proved to be futile. I had no other option but to approach the police for their help in this matter," Yadav added. 

The Police investigating officer said that a number of employees had approached the Police Station and alleged that the company had refused to pay them back the Rs. 50,000 refundable security deposit and was harassing them on one pretext or the other. He said that the company officials claimed innocence saying that the employees would go absent for months together and violate appointment terms and conditions disqualifying them from reclaiming their security deposits. The investigating officer said the accused had also claimed that they had informed many of the employees to take back their money but they never turned up.