Fabindia's CEO and Managing Director, who were summoned by Goa Police in connection with the voyeurism case, on Tuesday failed to appear before the investigating officer, even as police summoned 11 employees of the outlet for questioning.
The Goa crime branch had summoned the company's Chief Executive Officer Subrata Dutta and Managing Director William Bissel to appear before it at 10 am today.
"The company officials have failed to appear. Their lawyer has sought more time for them to appear. We will have to see what time is given to them. They had sent their representative yesterday who was quizzed by the investigating officer," Inspector General of Police Sunil Garg said.
"They didn't come. We are waiting to study the order given by district court while granting anticipatory bail to Fabindia's store manager," said lawyer Raju Paulekar who is representing Fabindia.
"Eleven employees of Fabindia store have been summoned for quizzing today afternoon," Superintendent of Police (crime branch) Kartik Kashyap said.
Trying on clothes at an outlet of a reputed garment brand at Candolim village near Goa, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani had spotted a hidden camera positioned to record inside the small room, raising an alarm after which Goa Police registered a case against the staff for voyeurism.
Subsequently, four employees of the store -- Paresh Bhagat, Raju Payanche, Prashant Naik and Karim Lakhani -- were arrested and booked under IPC sections 354C (voyeurism), 509 (intrusion into privacy) and IT Act's section 66E (capturing, publishing image of private area of any person without his/her consent).
However, they were later granted bail by a local court which said that police had made out no grounds for custodial interrogation.
Coming to the defence of Fabindia in the hidden camera episode, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said the company cannot be blamed for the mischief played by some of its employees at its store, where Union Minister Smriti Irani spotted a camera focusing at the trial room.
"Fabindia is supposed to be a reputed company. I personally feel that it must not be the company's fault but mischief played by its staff members. Some womanisers must have done that," Parsekar told reporters here.
The company claimed that installation of CCTV camera is a standard retail practice employed across the industry as a surveillance and security measure and that several other stores have been checked since yesterday by the police and no imperfections in placement of cameras have been found.
