Smriti likely to be witness in Fabindia CCTV case

RUPESH SAMANT (PTI), PANAJI | 16 April 2015 19:50 IST

Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani may be included as a witness in the trial room voyeurism case involving a Fabindia outlet, a senior police official said today.

Besides Irani, police is considering to mention two BJP MLAs and a government official as witnesses in the case.

Police had earlier identified an employee of the outlet at Candolim near here as having allegedly shifted the focus of a CCTV camera pointing it towards the store’s trial room, which was brought to light by Irani while she was shopping there on April 3.

The forensic report on examination of data is awaited before finalisation of the charge sheet.

HRD Mnister Smriti Irani coming out of a showroom where she found a camera installed inside the changing room, at Candolim, Goa. (PTI)

Irani, who was shopping at the leading ethnic apparel brand’s outlet while on a personal visit to Goa, had raised an alarm when she spotted a CCTV camera pointing towards the change room.

Subsequently, police had filed an FIR against four employees of the store.

“We had recorded the statement of Irani on the first day itself. It is the prerogative of the investigating officer whether to name someone as witness or not in the chargesheet. We might consider naming Irani as a witness in the case,” a police officer said on condition of anonymity.

 

The complaint in the case was filed by BJP MLA from Candolim Michael Lobo, while Dr Prakash Sawant, the legislator from Sankhalim, also testified before the investigators on the day of the incident.

Former MLA and under secretary to Chief Minister, Sadanand Tanawade, may also be listed as a witness along with Sawant and Lobo in the case in which police had questioned more than 20 people, including senior Fabindia executives.

The investigators are seeking legal opinion whether to include Fabindia’s senior officials, including its Managing Director William Bissel and Chief Executive Officer Subrata Dutta, in the chargesheet, a senior police officer said.

“Their (Fabindia officials) direct involvement cannot be established in the case. But they are at fault because they failed to keep a tab on such activities. We will have to see whether they can be made accused or not,” he said.

Police have sent the data collected from the DVR (Digital Video Recording) room of the outlet for examination in Hyderabad, in the absence of such a facility in Goa.


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