Hidden cameras are now everywhere, including bathrooms. In a bizarre incident, an electrician secretly installed a video camera in the bathroom of a neighbour’s house here while he did an electrical work earlier and has been watching the visuals for the past eight months.
The accused, Reghunathan alias Reghu, 44, landed in police custody on Monday. He is a popular social worker, the branch secretary of a political outfit at Marappalam. Reghu was nabbed from his residence on the T K Divakaran Road at Muttada on a complaint lodged by his neighbour Ramachandran.
Ramachandran was alerted by his daughter who detected the presence of the camera which is suspected to have been installed by the accused.
The police, who found the camera hidden in the bathroom of the house, later traced the Radio AV Receiver fixed beneath the roof of Reghu’s house. The antenna of the camera and receiver could transmit visuals within 100 metres. Reghu’s house is just 25 metres from the house of the complainant.
Local residents said he had also been caught red-handed earlier while peeping into other houses. Reghu allegedly used to watch the visuals caught on the camera on the TV which was connected with the radio receiver through cable.
“He used television as he was not computer-savvy and did not post the visuals on the Internet though the technique used was high-tech,” said Circle Inspector of Police in-charge, Peroorkada, D Asokan.
Interestingly, Reghu had convinced the residents that the power charger of the camera was for the water heater and he used to visit the house occasionally on the pretext of adjusting the water heater.
The police said that though they had searched two other houses where he had done electrical work, no cameras were found there. Another camera which was found from the house of Reghu had no visuals in it.
The cameras were assembled by the accused himself and the police have sent the images to the Forensic Science Laboratory for examination. However, Reghu claimed that he wanted to keep vigil over the happenings there, police sources said.