Woman spots ‘camera’ inside Dehradun restaurant’s washroom, 1 held

Advocate Paras Sharma, his wife Khushboo and several other family members were at the restaurant on Thursday night when at around 9.30 pm, she noticed something that looked like a camera from a cut made in the false ceiling of the women’s washroom.

“My wife took a photo of the camera and showed it to us just to be fully sure before making any allegations. Once confirmed, we called the manager and informed him about the incident. We went to the washroom again but by then the device was missing,” Paras said.

“Two other women who also used the washroom said that they saw two men coming out of the washroom. Later, when we checked the phone of the accused, we found the gallery empty,” said Paras.

Following Khushboo’s complaint, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Kumar and the restaurant owner under Section 77 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) which punishes the act of voyeurism.

The Cantonment Kotwali police subsequently arrested Kumar. “The man hid his phone to record inside the women’s washroom. We have arrested him and he has confessed to doing this on several occasions in the past too,” Ajai Singh, said Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police, told The Indian Express.

A police official who is a part of the investigation said that the accused had used his phone to record inside the washroom but deleted all photos and videos. The device has now been sent to the forensic science laboratory, the official added.