KOCHI: In a bizarre incident, a 45-year-old man, irked by the positioning of a CCTV camera at his neighbour’s house, allegedly trespassed into the compound dressed in a salwar and shawl to damage the surveillance equipment at Vettikulam near Mulanthuruthy. The accused, who left the country a day after the incident, is now seeking relief from the court to avoid arrest upon his return.
The incident occurred on October 23, 2024, at the residence of a 55-year-old woman. Around 10.30 pm, a person dressed in a yellow salwar and blue shawl entered her property and damaged a CCTV camera installed on the lawn. The next morning, the woman noticed that the camera had been vandalised and filed a police complaint.
Upon reviewing the footage, police discovered that the individual was not a woman, but a man in disguise. “Following a detailed examination, we identified that the suspect was a neighbour. Unfortunately, he left the country immediately after the incident,” said an official with the Mulanthuruthy police.
According to the police, the accused allegedly objected to the angle of the CCTV camera, claiming it compromised his privacy by capturing views of his house. There had been a verbal altercation between the neighbours shortly before the vandalism.Recently, the accused approached the Ernakulam District Principal Sessions Court seeking an anticipatory bail in the case. According to him, he was falsely implicated and the complaint was an act of personal vengeance. He claimed that despite requesting a repositioning of the camera, the complainant refused to cooperate.
However, opposing the plea, the government counsel submitted CCTV footage showing the accused damaging the camera while dressed in disguise. The court noted that instead of resorting to vandalism, the accused should have approached the authorities.“He is not supposed to take the law into his hands or cause damage to private property,” the court observed, adding that the complainant had suffered a financial loss of Rs 50,000. “Granting bail in this case would send a wrong message to society,” the order stated.
The accused has now approached the Kerala High Court, which considered the matter on Tuesday and posted it for further hearing on May 30. Police are awaiting for Kerala High Court decision on the anticipatory bail petition to take further action.