Panaji, April 3: Trying on clothes at an outlet of a reputed garment brand at Candolim village near here, a vigilant Union HRD minister, Smriti Irani, Friday spotted a camera hidden in the small room.
The minister raised an alarm after which Goa Police registered a case against the staff for voyeurism.
Irani, on a visit to Goa, protested immediately on spotting the camera and also alerted her husband, businessman Zubin Irani, said superintendent of police (north) Umesh Gaonkar.
She then called BJP legislator Micheal Lobo, who lodged an FIR.
“When we switched on the camera, the entire video was recorded… This is mischief… Somebody has been watching the recording,” the MLA said.
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, Lobo said, confirming that it held recordings of people changing in the trial room.
“Irani’s statement has been recorded as a victim, along with another woman who had entered the room earlier,” Gaonkar said.
Police have already sealed the shop and are inspecting the showroom.
A case has been filed under section 354 C (voyeurism) and 509 (intrusion into privacy) of Indian Penal Code against employees who were monitoring the cameras. “We are analyzing the entire data,” the SP said.
Gaonkar said that police have formed a 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.
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said, “I have been given to understand that Madam Smriti Irani had gone to Goa, and during her stay probably went to purchase something in a shop named FabIndia. A suo moto case has been registered against the person concerned. We will take stringent action.”PTI