Thane, Maharashtra:
An employee of McDonald's has been accused of videotaping women in the ladies toilet of their Thane franchise. On Saturday evening, a mobile phone with a camera was found on the vent above the toilet at the fast food joint's branch in Kasaravadavali in Thane. A customer who visited the washroom discovered the mobile phone and informed the staff at McDonald's, and later the police.
Thane resident Yogdeep Korpade, 31, and his wife Shilpa, 30, visited the restaurant at 4 pm on Saturday. "My wife wanted to visit the loo before we left, but the housekeeping staff asked her to wait while they cleaned the toilet. However, when she went in, the toilet was still unclean. That made her suspicious and she began to look around. She then saw a light blinking in the vent above," said Korpade.
When the couple alerted the management, they opened the vent and found a mobile phone with its recording button switched on.
Korpade added, "The staff told us that they would immediately conduct a check but later said that one of their staffers was absconding. We wondered how many such videos of unsuspecting women had been taken, and decided to file an FIR." Initial investigations revealed that the camera had been placed by Sachin Waghmare, 26, a member of the cleaning staff, who is currently absconding.
Waghmare had been working at the chain for a year but was not allowed to enter the ladies toilet. "We are trying to find out how he entered the ladies toilet. He used sticky tape to affix the mobile phone on to the vent," revealed a police official.
Meanwhile, a McDonald's spokesperson stated, "We are co-operating with the customer and assisting with investigations. The employee has been removed from duty, and investigation is pending. At McDonald's the customer comes first as always."