Panaji, Sep 10 (TOI): The crime branch of Goa police has filed a chargesheet against four employees of Fabindia in Union minister Smriti Irani voyeurism case. Crime branch SP Karthik Kashyap said they filed the chargesheet against the four Fabindia staffers before the judicial magistrate first class at Mapusa.

Kashyap said the crime branch recorded the statements of Fabindia managing director William Bissel and chief executive officer Subrata Dutta but did not name them in the chargesheet as they had no role in the case.

Paresh Bhagat, Prashant Naik, Karim Lakhani and Raju Payancha—all section incharges at the Candolim store—have been named in the chargesheet. All four were arrested and later released on conditional bail.

The chargesheet has been filed under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354C (voyeurism), 509 (intruding privacy) of the IPC and 66E (punishment for violation of privacy) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The crime branch had recorded statements of over 20 Fabindia officials in the case.

On April 3, 2015, on a two-day visit to the state, Irani visited Fabindia outlet at Candolim along with her husband. When Irani entered the trial room, she noticed that a CCTV camera was pointing towards the room. She informed her husband, who confronted the store's staff and demanded to see the CCTV footage.

He also called up Calangute BJP MLA Michael Lobo, who informed police.

Police had said the CCTV camera was installed high on a wall just outside the trial room and pointed towards the cubicle through a foot-high ventilation gap on its side.

On March 4, 2017, the crime branch had received the digital video recorder (DVR) that had been sent for analysis to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad. TOI was the first to report that investigation in the case was about to complete.