Hostel Owner Filmed Girls With Cameras Hidden In Adapter, Switchboard

An investigation is underway after an owner of a paying guest (PG) accomodation was accused of filming the girls residing in his hostel with a hidden camera, in the Indian city of Mumbai.

The 47-year-old man installed the hidden camera in his phone's adapter and placed it inside the room of his four-bedroom apartment where three girls stayed.

The girls had been living in the apartment for over a year but got a mild doubt when the owner started repeating the conversations that girls had in their private spaces. Initially, the victims thought he was overhearing their conversations. However, one day, they found an electric adapter in the room.

“Initially, the girls thought that the accused may be overhearing their talk. One of the girls found an electric adapter fitted in their room. That raised her suspicion and she put a piece of cloth over it. The accused owner immediately came to the girls’ room under the pretext of checking it and asked the girls as to why they had covered it up,” a police officer said, local daily the Times Of India reported.

The accused then told the girls that the adapter was an antenna booster for his television. The girls grew suspicious and one of them quickly took a photo of the adapter and searched about the machine on the Internet. They found out it was a hidden camera which was available for sale online. They immediately lodged a police complaint.

Police not only seized the hidden camera but also his laptop which had all the videos and pictures of the girls. The man was arrested and released Saturday.

Times Now News reported, the man also confessed to police, to have fixed hidden cameras in fans, electric switches, windows and bathroom, where the girls reside.

Police, on Tuesday, said that they were still investigating whether the accused had shared the videos of the girls and if he had filmed his previous guests as well.

“These guys will be emboldened further if not checked early,” a senior police officer said.

Advocate N S Nappinai, a cyber law counsel, said the man could be charged with violation of a person’s privacy.

“The punishment being three years imprisonment, unfortunately, makes it a bailable offence when in fact for technology-enabled offences such as these which are a growing menace, the offence ought to be non-bailable,’’ he said.

In a similar incident earlier this month, another PG owner was arrested for installing several cameras in the house where seven girls stayed and secretly monitoring their movement in Southern Indian city of Chennai. When police searched the house, they found nine hidden cameras installed by the owner in the three-room hostel. While three of them were found in the plug sockets, two were found installed inside lamp bulbs. Three other cameras were found inside wrist watches and one on the hanger inside the wardrobe.