Smriti Irani 'voyeurism' case: Goa Police summons Fabindia CEO, MD
Panji, April 7: The Goa police on Tuesday summoned 11 people including Fabindia's managing director and CEO in connection with the voyeurism case.
Smriti Irani and cam in trial room: Voyeurism case could malign Goa's image, says former CM
This was done after Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani filed case against the outlet's staff alleging that the store had a CCTV camera focusing at the trial room.
According to latest report, the CEO and MD have asked more time as they failed to appear before the investigating officers.
After the complaint of the Minister, four employees were arrested and booked under various IPC sections last week, but they were later released on bail.
Fab India store sealed as Smriti Irani spots CCTV in trial room
Earlier, on Monday the Goa Police said all the persons involved in the voyeurism case, registered following the complaint by Irani, would be brought to book and "other victims" too would be called for recording their statements.
Goa CM defended Fabindia on Monday
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar defended the store. He said that the company cannot be blamed for the mischief played by some employees at its store, where Union Minister Smriti Irani spotted a camera facing the trial room.
"Fabindia is supposed to be a reputed company. I personally feel that it must not be the company's fault but mischief played by its staff members. Some womanisers must have done that," Parsekar told reporters.
Parsekar further said, "Smritiji was VIP and because of that cognisance has been promptly taken. We will see that such things don't occur again. It is a lesson for everybody."
What had happened?
Irani,
who
visited
a
Fabindia
store
at
Candolim
last
week,
alleged
that
it
had
a
CCTV
camera
focusing
at
the
trial
room.
Subsequently,
four
employees
of
the
store
--
Paresh
Bhagat,
Raju
Payanche,
Prashant
Naik
and
Karim
Lakhani
--
were
arrested
and
booked
under
IPC
sections
354C
(voyeurism),
509
(intrusion
into
privacy)
and
IT
Act's
section
66E
(capturing,
publishing
image
of
private
area
of
any
person
without
his/her
consent).
However,
they
were
later
granted
bail
by
a
local
court
which
said
that
police
had
made
out
no
grounds
for
custodial
interrogation.
Fabindia
has
also
denied
that
it
had
placed
hidden
cameras
in
any
of
its
stores.
According
to
a
statement
issued
by
Fabindia
earlier,
the
camera
in
question
at
Candolim
store
was
part
of
the
surveillance
system
and
was
installed
in
the
shopping
area.
OneIndia News
(With inputs from PTI)