Headlines
Now, Kolhapur Fabindia staffer held for filming woman
Kolhapur (Maharashtra), April 4
Spelling
further trouble for Fabindia Overseas Pvt. Ltd, a staffer at its
Kolhapur outlet was arrested for secretly filming a woman customer on
his cellphone, police said here on Saturday.
Despite repeated attempts by IANS, Fabindia officials refused to comment on the matter on Saturday.
The
incident occurred on March 31 at the Tarabai Park outlet here when a
salesman Prakash A. Ispurle was caught snooping on a woman customer.
The
following day, the woman lodged a police complaint against Ispurle who
was arrested and taken into police custody, a police official told
mediapersons said.
The woman in her complaint alleged when she
was trying some clothes, Ispurle put his mobilephone in recording mode
and slipped it in the gap between the trial room floor and the door, the
official added.
She raised an alarm after which Ispurle
hurriedly pulled the phone back, rushed to a corner and attempted to
delete the recording.
However, the police nailed him on the basis
of CCTV footage of the store which showed Ispurle in the act of filming
the customer.
The incident came into focus after union minister
Smriti Irani spotted an installed camera overlooking the women's trial
room at a Fabindia outlet in Candolim, Goa, on Friday.
The
minister had gone there for shopping with her husband Zubin Irani. She
later lodged a police complaint after which four staffers were arrested
but enlarged on bail on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, Fabindia
tendered an apology to Irani for the incident but denied that there were
hidden cameras anywhere in the storey, including the trial rooms.
Fabindia assured that its staff and store manager were fully cooperating with the police in its investigations.
The
company has also appointed its own three-member women team to probe the
incident and urged that if any mischief had been perpetrated by
anybody, such a person should be punished as per the law.
Referring
to the Friday incident and the Calangute police's (Goa) action vide an
F.I.R. filed against the company, Fabindia said it was women-centric
organisation with 70 percent women comprising its workforce.
"Fabindia
and its products are loved by women across the country and the globe.
We highly value the dignity of women and stand for it. Customer is
supreme for us," it said.