Smriti Irani Spots Camera Recording Her While Changing Clothes in Goa, FIR Filed

Smriti Irani Spots Camera Recording Her While Changing Clothes in Goa, FIR Filed

FILE: Union minister Smriti Irani (Press Trust of India photo)

CANDOLIM, GOA:  Union Education Minister Smriti Irani was trying on clothes at an outlet of the popular Fabindia in Goa today, when she spotted a camera positioned to record inside the small room. Footage from the camera, including that of the minister, was found recorded on a computer at the store.

Ms Irani, who is on holiday in the sea-side state that her party the BJP rules, spotted the camera while shopping at the Fabindia store in Candolim, and immediately raised an alarm, alerting her husband, businessman Zubin Irani.

She then called a local legislator, Micheal Lobo of her party, who lodged an FIR or First Information Report.

Mr Lobo, who called the police and then rushed to the store, told NDTV that the camera was positioned in a way that the lens pointed right into the changing room and was not easily visible. “When we went through the recording, the entire video was recorded… This is mischief… Somebody has been watching the recordings,” the MLA said.

Footage from the camera, installed four months ago according to staff at the store, was being recorded in a computer in the manager’s office, Mr Lobo said, confirming that it held many recordings of people changing in the trial room.

The manager of the store, he said, was on leave today.

The police have registered a case of outraging a woman’s modesty against the store and are investigating to find out who had positioned the camera to face the changing room. “The police are still checking for evidence…They are seizing all the evidence,” Mr Lobo said.

Ms Irani, 39, has recorded a statement at the Candolim police station. Mr Lobo said she is staying in the popular Calangute area, not far from the Candolim store.