Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani Spots CCTV Camera in Changing Room, Files Complaint

[Nicky G]

 

[Nicky G]

More trouble for Fabindia, salesman at Kolhapur outlet arrested for filming woman in trial room

Smriti Irani voyeurism case: Focus of camera rigged, technician tells police

PANAJI: The CCTV camera, installed at the Fabindia outlet in Candolim, was tampered with, said the technician, who installed the camera at the store, in his statement to the police.

Crime branch of Goa police, which is investigating the Union HRD minister Smriti Irani voyeurism case, recorded the technician's statement late on Saturday night.

Crime branch senior officer said that technician has submitted the plan under which the installation of CCTV camera was done. The technician told the crime branch that the camera was fixed as per the plan and it focused on the clothes shelves in the store and not towards the trial room.

"Very soon we will come to know who has tampered with the CCTV camera," a crime branch officer said that the adjourning CCTV camera has captured the tampering with the camera.

The CCTV camera was installed on the wall just outside the trial room and post tampering it was focused into the trial room through the foot-high ventilation gap on the side of the trial room cubicle, sources said.

The CCTV camera and digital video recorder (DVR) from the store has been attached by the crime branch and sent to the central forensic science laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad, for analysis.

Fabindia managing director (MD) William Bissell and chief executive officer (CEO) Subrata Dutta who had sought time to join the investigation into case have informed the crime branch that they will join the investigations on Tuesday morning.

The four accused persons, who were arrested by Calangute police after Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani was filmed while trying out some clothes at an outlet in Candolim, were released on conditional bail on Saturday evening.

Irani, who was in Goa on a two-day holiday, had visited the Fabindia outlet at Candolim on Friday along with her husband. When Irani entered the trial room to tryout some outfits, she noticed the CCTV camera focusing towards the trial room and capturing images while trying some clothes.

Police had registered the case under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354 C (voyeurism), and 509 (intruding privacy) of the IPC and Section 66 E (punishment for violation of privacy) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.