The police, based on a complaint, have detained the accused on charges of Section 77 (voyeurism) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Sadashivanagar police have arrested a 23-year-old employee of Third Wave Coffee at BEL Road in Bengaluru for placing a mobile phone in the women’s washroom.
The accused staffer, Manoj, is a resident of Guttahalli in the city and a native of Shivamogga. He was arrested after a woman customer discovered the phone, placed inside the restroom’s dustbin, in the recording mode facing the toilet.
The woman raised an alarm, prompting the management to rush to her help. Upon questioning, they found that the phone belonged to Manoj.
The accused had been working at Third Wave Coffee‘s BEL Road outlet for the last six months. He was terminated from the job immediately following the discovery.
The incident came to light on Saturday (August 10, 2024) following a social media post. Basundhara (@gangsofcinepur) described the episode in an Instagram story.
“I was at a @thirdwavecoffeeindia outlet in Bengaluru this morning, and this is what happened: A woman found a phone in the washroom, hidden in the dustbin, with video recording on for about 2 hours, facing the toilet seat. It was on flight mode so that it makes no sound, and was carefully hidden in the dustbin bag which had a hole made in it so that only the camera is exposed,” the Instragram story read.
“It was quickly found that the phone belongs to one of the men working there. The police was called and they arrived soon enough, and action is being taken.
Responding to the post, the outlet posted on X that the concerned person had been terminated.
“We regret the unfortunate incident at our BEL Road outlet in Bengaluru and want to emphasise that such actions are absolutely unacceptable at Third Wave Coffee. We acted swiftly to address the situation by immediately terminating the person & ensuring the safety of our customers,” the post read.
The police, based on a complaint, have detained the accused on charges of Section 77 (voyeurism) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and relevant sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act. The phone has had been confiscated for further investigation to ascertain the motive of the accused, a police officer said.
