Voyeurism case: Court grants bail to four Fabindia staffers

Mangalore Today News Network

Panaji, Apr 4, 2015 (PTI): All four employees of a Fabindia outlet near here, who were arrested after Union Minister Smriti Irani spotted a hidden camera trained towards its trial room, were today granted bail by a local court here.

Judicial Magistrate Dwaja Patkar, before whom the four were produced after their arrest last evening, granted them bail and rejected Goa Crime branch’s application for their custody.

The Magistrate, in her order, said, "no grounds were made by Investigating Officer for custodial interrogation of the accused". She also said the ground for their arrest has not been specified by the investigating agency.

The accused - Paresh Bhagat, Raju Payanche, Prashant Naik and Karim Lakhani - were arrested hours after Irani, who was in the store located in Candolim village, raised an alarm after spotting the camera yesterday morning.

The arrests were made on the basis of a complaint filed by a Goa BJP legislator. They were booked under IPC Sections 354 C (voyeurism), 509 (intrusion into privacy) and also IT Act’s Section 66E (capturing, publishing image of private area of any person without his/her consent).

In a related development, the store manager has moved Goa Court for anticipatory bail. The manager, who is not traceable, filed the application through her lawyer.