Krishna Pujari
THE Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Friday spotted a hidden camera positioned to record inside the trail room an outlet of the popular Fabindia in Goa. However, Goa police have arrested three employees of the outlet into the matter. Police have already sealed the shop and is inspecting the showroom.
39-year-old Smriti Irani is on holiday in Goa. She spotted the camera while trying cloths in trail room at the Fabindia store a reputed garment brand in Candolim village near Panaji. She immediately raised an alarm, alerting her husband, Zubin Irani.
Zubin Irani contacted Goa legislator Micheal Lobo who rushed on the spot and found CCTV footage recorded on a computer at the store. Police recorded statement of Irani and on behalf of Irani Lobo lodged a first information report in Calangute police station under section 354 C (voyeurism) and 509 (intrusion into privacy) of Indian Penal Code against employees who were monitoring the cameras.
Lobo told media persons that camera was positioned in a way that the lens pointed right into the changing room and was not easily visible. When he went through the recording, the entire video was recorded. Someone did mischief. Somebody has been watching the recordings.
Footage from the camera, installed four months ago according to staff at the store, was being recorded in a computer in the manager’s office. It held many recordings of people changing in the trial room.
Three people have been arrested, Goa Chief Minister Laxmimkant Parsekar told media persons. The case has been handed over to the Goa crime branch.
Clarifying their side, William Bissel, Managing Director Fabindia told media, “We have security cameras in all stores. The cameras are placed where shop-lifting can occur. They are not inside the trial rooms.
According to top police officials, police have formed special team to inspect all the showrooms in the coastal belt to ensure that there are no CCTV cameras installed in changing rooms. He said instructions will also be issued to all the police stations to form teams and inspect the changing rooms in their respective areas.