On a day of hectic developments, four staffers of the niche boutique chain Fabindia, who were accused of mischievously setting a CCTV camera to allegedly overlook the store's chain's trial room, were released on bail, even as the company apologised to Central Minister Smriti Irani, but at the same time denied any wrongdoing.
The four accused, namely Karim lakhani, Prashant Naik, Raju Panche and Paresh Bhagat, were released on bail by the Judicial Magistrate First Class at Mapusa where they were produced, on a personal bond of Rs5,000 each. The accused have been asked not to tamper with the evidence and co-operate with the investigation.
"They have been granted bail. Each of them have been asked to sign a personal bond for Rs5,000 each," Superintendent of Police (Crime) told reporters here. While granting them bail, the Judicial Magistrate in its bail order observed that the investigating agency was unable to establish "malafide intent" on part of the accused in the positioning of the CCTV camera at the store.
They were arrested on Friday after the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, who while trying out clothes, noticed an allegedly intrusive CCTV camera positioned near the trial room. Irani raised a hue and cry before directing a party legislator Michael lobo to register a FIR.
In a parallel development, the manager of the Fabindia store in Candolim, Chaitali Samant has filed for anticipatory bail in the same court. The hearing is expected to come up Monday. All the four accused are junior employees of boutique chain and were arrested following a complaint by BJP MlA Michael lobo on the instructions of Irani under Sections 354 C (voyeurism), 509 (intrusion into privacy) and Section 66 E of the Information Technology Act.
The four, through their lawyer, told the court that the CCTV wasn't installed with malafide intention, a view which was subsequently seconded by Chief Minister laxmikant Parsekar, who spoke to The Pioneer from Bengaluru, where he was attending the BJP's National Executive meeting.
"It appears they (Fabindia) have not done it on purpose," Parsekar said, a day after four employees of the store were arrested, for the alleged mischief. Speaking to reporters Kashyap also said that Fabindia officials were co-operating with the investigation.
Meanwhile, Fabindia, which has preferred to stay away from the media glare, on Friday issued a formal apology to Irani via a media statement on Saturday. The statement which claims that an enquiry headed by an all women committee had been started internally by the company, it denied any wrongdoing on its part. "We would like to convey our apologies to the honourable Minister Smriti Irani for the inconvenience that has been inadvertently caused," Fabindia Overseas Pvt limited said in their statement.
"There were no hidden cameras anywhere in the store including the trial rooms. There are cameras in full public view and the fact (that) surveillance cameras are installed is prominently displayed in all the stores," the statement also said. The company has said that it has also appointed its own three-member women team to probe the incident and assured that if it was found that any mischief had been perpetrated by anybody, they would be punished as per law.
Meanwhile, in a fresh trouble for the boutique chain, the media unearthed another voyeuristic scandal in a Maharashtra store. In Maharashtra's Kolhapur district, Fabindia employee Prakash Ananda Ispurle, who was arrested on March 31 for filming a woman customer using a mobile phone at the store located in Tarabai Park area, was released on bail on Friday.