The Goa police has perhaps overreached itself and made elementary mistakes in handling evidence as it investigates allegations that employees of a Fabindia clothing store were illegally making video recordings of women customers in a trial room, Opposition leaders say.
On Saturday, four Fabindia employees were charged with being part of a conspiracy to adjust the CCTV camera lens to overlook the trial room with mal-intent. The arrests came a day after Union minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani kicked up a row after spotting a camera near a trial room in an outlet of the chain store in the tourist beachside town of Candolim.
But Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the media in Bengaluru, where he is attending a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national executive, that it still wasn’t clear whether the employees had acted deliberately. “Before Smriti ji, there are images of women of who used the room, but not whole [images],” he said. “Seems like it was not intentional, probably unintentional.”
In addition, the police seem to have made basic errors in handling of the crime scene and gathering evidence. Minutes after confronting the store employees at 12.30 pm on Friday over the positioning of the camera, which Irani claimed had a view of the trial room, the minister and her husband Zubin contacted BJP’s North Goa district president and local MLA Michael Lobo. The two men rushed to the spot in less than half an hour.
No crowd control
While Irani left the store at the first sight of media crews, a steady stream of BJP leaders walked in and out of the store, even as a police team led by police inspector in charge of the Calangute police station was conducting a panchanama of the premises.
MLAs Lobo and Pramod Sawant of the Sanquelim constituency, as well as Officer on Special Duty to the chief minister’s office Sadanand Tanawade were captured on camera by TV crews strolling around the store. They even entered the cubicle in which the CCTV monitor was located.
A more graphic lapse followed.
Lobo, who on Friday filed the First Information Report on behalf of Irani, was candid enough to admit to reporters that he, along with the police, had scanned through at least three months of footage, which he claimed contained several clips of women changing their clothes.
“I, along with the police are scanning the store's hard disk right now,” he said. “The camera is in a very mischievous place and there is footage of women changing clothes for the past three to four months.” This raises questions about why a civilian was allowed to inspect sensitive evidence, in this case videos of women changing clothes.
Opposition raises questions
This is being raised by the main Opposition party, the Congress, which claims that the investigators should not have allowed BJP leaders to access the site.
“The BJP leaders may have arrived there because Mrs. Smriti Irani is their leader,” Congress spokesperson Durgadas Kamat told Scroll. “We hope there has been no interference with the evidence. The police should be allowed to do their duty without such political interference, especially because this is a case which requires sensitive handling.”
However, the state Inspector General of Police, Sunil Garg, maintained that the repeated trespassing by the MLAs did not amount to disturbing of the crime scene.
“It depends on what kind of evidence is there,” Garg said. “It is for the police to decide. For example, in case of a blood stain or if there is a possibility for lifting finger prints, the police do not allow” outsiders on the crime scene.
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
On Saturday, four Fabindia employees were charged with being part of a conspiracy to adjust the CCTV camera lens to overlook the trial room with mal-intent. The arrests came a day after Union minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani kicked up a row after spotting a camera near a trial room in an outlet of the chain store in the tourist beachside town of Candolim.
But Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the media in Bengaluru, where he is attending a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national executive, that it still wasn’t clear whether the employees had acted deliberately. “Before Smriti ji, there are images of women of who used the room, but not whole [images],” he said. “Seems like it was not intentional, probably unintentional.”
In addition, the police seem to have made basic errors in handling of the crime scene and gathering evidence. Minutes after confronting the store employees at 12.30 pm on Friday over the positioning of the camera, which Irani claimed had a view of the trial room, the minister and her husband Zubin contacted BJP’s North Goa district president and local MLA Michael Lobo. The two men rushed to the spot in less than half an hour.
No crowd control
While Irani left the store at the first sight of media crews, a steady stream of BJP leaders walked in and out of the store, even as a police team led by police inspector in charge of the Calangute police station was conducting a panchanama of the premises.
MLAs Lobo and Pramod Sawant of the Sanquelim constituency, as well as Officer on Special Duty to the chief minister’s office Sadanand Tanawade were captured on camera by TV crews strolling around the store. They even entered the cubicle in which the CCTV monitor was located.
A more graphic lapse followed.
Lobo, who on Friday filed the First Information Report on behalf of Irani, was candid enough to admit to reporters that he, along with the police, had scanned through at least three months of footage, which he claimed contained several clips of women changing their clothes.
“I, along with the police are scanning the store's hard disk right now,” he said. “The camera is in a very mischievous place and there is footage of women changing clothes for the past three to four months.” This raises questions about why a civilian was allowed to inspect sensitive evidence, in this case videos of women changing clothes.
Opposition raises questions
This is being raised by the main Opposition party, the Congress, which claims that the investigators should not have allowed BJP leaders to access the site.
“The BJP leaders may have arrived there because Mrs. Smriti Irani is their leader,” Congress spokesperson Durgadas Kamat told Scroll. “We hope there has been no interference with the evidence. The police should be allowed to do their duty without such political interference, especially because this is a case which requires sensitive handling.”
However, the state Inspector General of Police, Sunil Garg, maintained that the repeated trespassing by the MLAs did not amount to disturbing of the crime scene.
“It depends on what kind of evidence is there,” Garg said. “It is for the police to decide. For example, in case of a blood stain or if there is a possibility for lifting finger prints, the police do not allow” outsiders on the crime scene.