By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 16 Aug: A shocking incident of making videos by turning on a mobile camera in the ladies’ toilet of Anandam Restaurant located in Ballupur has come to light. The accused in this case has been arrested while the investigation is still in progress. The incident occurred last evening when some women guests of the restaurant noticed the mobile phone installed in the toilet of the restaurant. As soon as the matter came to light, the women sitting in the restaurant and some eminent people protested against it, last evening, and created a ruckus. As the matter escalated, the owner of the restaurant also reached the spot.
The issue was reported to the Police which also reached the spot and arrested the alleged culprit.
The video recording footage of the mobile hidden in the bathroom has also been recovered. Considering the seriousness of the matter, on the strict instructions of SSP Dehradun Ajai Singh, Dehradun Cantt Police immediately registered a case against the accused youth last night and took him into custody. The police also seized the recording mobile hidden in the bathroom of the restaurant. In this case related to crime against women, SSP Dehradun directed the local police to investigate in a transparent manner and take strict action. The police have detained the accused youth, who hails from Jharkhand and is learnt to have been serving in the restaurant for the past one year.
The accused, Vinod Mandal has been arrested. During interrogation, the accused is claimed to have admitted making a few video clippings from his mobile in the past too. He also claimed that he kept the video clips with himself and did not share them with anyone nor he made them viral on social media.
It may be recalled that a woman had complained about the video recording in the toilet of the restaurant. On the basis of the complaint, a case was registered with Cantt Police against the restaurant operators and others under relevant sections of the BNS.
On thorough interrogation of the restaurant operator and all the employees employed in the restaurant, the police finally arrested a housekeeping employee from the spot after suspecting his statements. When he was brought to the police station and strictly questioned, he accepted hiding the mobile in the women’s washroom and informed the Police that he works as a sanitation worker in all the three women’s washrooms in the restaurant and that he had hidden the mobile phone in the women’s washroom. He also admitted that when some women came to know about the mobile being kept in the washroom and when they went down to complain about it to the restaurant operator, he removed the mobile from the washroom and deleted all the said video clips from it.
The police have recovered the mobile phone from the possession of the accused, which will be sent to the forensic lab for further action. According to the Dehradun Cantt Police, the name of the accused is Vinod Mandal, son of Parameshwar Mandal. He is a resident of Charakkutir, Manihari police station, Dhanbad, Jharkhand.
The owner of Anandam, Anand Swaroop Gupta stated that he has shared all the information with the police. Gupta said that the sanitation worker had been hired through a security agency almost a year ago. The police have been given information in writing. He added that he is in favour of a strict action against the accused sanitation worker.
