Kolkata: A day after the Raj Bhavan publicly disclosed selected CCTV footages, Kolkata Police is learnt to have finally got hold of the footages it had asked for as part of its probe into allegations of sexual harassment against the Governor C V Ananda Bose.
Sources said the police have acquired the footage from the state’s Public Works department which is in charge of the security of Raj Bhavan. The footage was acquired on Thursday night.
The police is now scanning through these since parts of the footage is said to be in congruence with the statements of the complainant, including the timings mentioned by the complainant. Earlier, the police had asked for the footage from Raj Bhavan authorities but was allegedly refused. The Governor had strictly asked the Raj Bhavan staff to refrain from giving any statements to the police. Police sources said that they are not probing any specific individual but certain complaints. As part of its ‘SACH KE SAAMNE’ (facing the truth) programme, Raj Bhavan disclosed CCTV footage to persons who either mailed or contacted the address provided by the Governor.
Raj Bhavan released the hour-and-19-minute CCTV footage from May 2, the day when the woman contractual worker alleged she was sexually harassed by the Governor. The footage included recordings from two cameras in front of the North Gate from May 2. Footage from the two CCTVs showed the complainant approaching the Raj Bhavan’s officer-in-charge’s (OC) room from front and rear angles. Even though the complainant had alleged that the Governor sexually harassed her in the conference room on May 2, no footage from the inside of the Raj Bhavan was shown on Thursday. Neither was the Governor seen in any of the footage screened on Thursday.
However, the complainant has now raised questions as to how the footages showing her were revealed when she has already lodged a complaint of sexual harassment.
She is learnt to have alleged that the Governor had committed a crime against her and by disclosing the footage showing her, the Governor has committed another crime. She said that as far as she is aware, in such cases the identity of the victim cannot be disclosed without
their permission.