In a disturbing event, the Delhi Police apprehended a 30-year-old man named Karan for reportedly surveilling his tenant by setting up spy cam in her bedroom and bathroom during her absence to her hometown. The authorities have seized three hidden cameras and two laptops from the accused. Reports suggest that the victim, who is preparing for the UPSC examinations, would leave her house keys with her landlord whenever she visited her hometown.
The situation became known after the suspect began insisting on being allowed into the home under the guise of conducting electrical repairs, with the actual intent of retrieving data from hidden cameras. It is important to note that these cameras were not networked, and their data was stored on a memory card.
The situation came to light when a woman began noticing odd activities on her WhatsApp, explained Deputy Commissioner of Police (east) Apoorva Gupta. She was advised to check for any linked devices and found that her WhatsApp was being accessed from an unfamiliar laptop. Immediately, she disconnected it. Her suspicions grew, prompting her to search her apartment for any hidden surveillance devices. To her dismay, she discovered a camera hidden within the bathroom’s bulb holder, stated the officer.
Subsequently, she contacted the police on Monday. The responding officers conducted a detailed search of her residence, uncovering an additional camera concealed in the bedroom’s bulb holder, revealed Gupta. She informed the officers that she would leave her house keys with Karan, a neighbour from a different floor within the same building, whenever she was out of town.
Upon questioning, Karan confessed that he had been entrusted with the keys three months prior, when she visited her hometown in Uttar Pradesh, according to the Deputy Commissioner of Police. Seizing this opportunity, Karan acquired three spy cameras from an electronics market and installed them in her bedroom and bathroom.
These cameras, which stored footage on a memory card rather than operating online, led Karan to frequently ask for the house keys under the guise of needing to repair electrical fixtures and fans. His real motive was to transfer the footage from the cameras to his laptop.
The investigation further led to the seizure of an additional spy camera and two laptops from Karan, which were used to store the videos, a police officer disclosed. Karan was charged under Section 77 (voyeurism) of the BNS and taken into custody by the Shakarpur police station. Despite being a graduate and preparing for competitive exams for the past seven years, and being differently abled, Karan had no prior criminal record, the police noted.
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