Goa Police has summoned top officials of FabIndia for questioning in connection with the voyeurism case filed against the outlet’s staff after Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani alleged last week that the store in Candolim had a CCTV camera suspiciously placed near the trial room.
Reports, Tuesday, said that Goa Crime Branch has issued summons to FabIndia’s Chief Executive Officer Subrata Dutta, Managing Director William Bissell and nine other top officials asking them to remain present for the investigation.
“Both of them have informed us that they will remain present before the investigating officer, ” Superintendent of Police Kartik Kashyap had told reporters yesterday.
Goa Police had reiterated that 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.
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.
Meanwhile, a local court yesterday granted anticipatory bail to Chaitrali Sawant, manager of FabIndia’s Candolim store.
Sawant was missing ever since a local BJP MLA, on behalf of Irani, filed a First Information Report blaming FabIndia for setting up the intrusive CCTV, which the allegedly partially captured several women changing their clothes.
While granting Sawant anticipatory bail on a surety of Rs 10,000, the Judicial Magistrate First Class in Mapusa town asked her to co-operate with the investigation being conducted by the Crime Branch. She was asked to report to the Crime Branch on April 7-8 for questioning. The Crime Branch was also directed not to arrest Sawant without prior permission from the court.
FabIndia has categorically 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.