The incident came to light late Thursday night when a 45-year-old woman filed a police complaint at Muradnagar police station against the suspect, Mukesh Giri. According to the complaint, the woman, accompanied by her 14-year-old daughter, visited Chota Haridwar on May 21 at 3:30 pm.
The Ghaziabad police are searching for a caretaker of a temple located on the banks of Muradnagar's Upper Ganga Canal, accused of secretly capturing live feed of women's changing room on his cellphone. On Friday (May 24), officers revealed that they found five days' worth of footage on the CCTV recording device, involving approximately 200 women.
The incident came to light late Thursday night when a 45-year-old woman filed a police complaint at Muradnagar police station against the suspect, Mukesh Giri. According to the complaint, the woman, accompanied by her 14-year-old daughter, visited Chota Haridwar on May 21 at 3:30 pm. After taking a bath, she went to the changing room.
"I learned that Mahant Mukesh Giri had installed a CCTV camera facing the changing room and was monitoring live feeds of women changing clothes. When I confronted him, he misbehaved and threatened me with dire consequences," the woman said in the FIR.
Chota Haridwar, situated along the Upper Ganga Canal, is a well-known stop for travellers heading to Haridwar and Uttarakhand. It houses a temple and attracts several visitors who often take baths there. The changing room in question is an open-air structure covered on all sides but without a roof.
Preliminary investigations by the police revealed a downward-facing CCTV camera positioned above the changing room. "We found five days' worth of live CCTV feed (from Sunday to Thursday). The suspect's mobile phone showed that he was capturing this live feed," said Vivek Chandra Yadav, DCP (Rural). "Only the suspect had access to the live feed."
While the initial investigation was ongoing, the woman had not yet provided a written complaint, allowing the suspect to evade the police. "We have learned that Mukesh Giri has several previous cases against him and has now absconded. Teams have been formed to apprehend him for thorough questioning," the DCP added.
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Based on the woman's complaint, the police registered an FIR on Thursday night under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 354 (molestation), 354C (voyeurism), 504 (intentional insult), and 506 (criminal intimidation) at Muradnagar police station. Mukesh Giri has been named as the prime suspect in the case.
