Godfrey Phillips Family Feud: Court Directs To Preserve Assault CCTV Footage

Samir Modi, the executive director of Godfrey Phillips, who was allegedly physically assaulted last month by the Personal Security Officer (PSO) to his mother Bina Modi when he tried to attend the board meeting convened at the office of Godfrey Phillips India (GPI), has recently approached the Saket District Court seeking monitoring of the investigation.

The District Court was directed to preserve the CCTV footage of the Godfrey Phillips India offices on the date of the assault, the seizure of the mobile phone and the preservation of call records of the accused persons.

Samir Modi had earlier filed a formal complaint with the investigating agency, stating that he was badly manhandled by the PSO of his mother when he tried entering the board meeting convened to make important decisions for the company.

In the complaint, he alleged that despite letting out a cry for help, there was no assistance or help from the board members who sat at their desks as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening, which confirmed that all the members were aware and were party to the conspiracy allegedly hatched by Bina Modi.

The investigating agency took action on the complaint filed by Samir Modi and registered the FIR for offences of grievous hurt and wrongfully restraining him. The investigation has been underway since the FIR was registered on May 31, 2024.

Samir Modi, represented by advocate Vijay Aggarwal, approached the concerned court on Saturday and sought the intervention of the court in the manner in which the present case is being investigated and prayed that considering the attack that happened on his client amid the worsening of the inheritance dispute going on between the family members of his client, there is a dire need for the court to monitor how the investigation is going on in this case as there is serious threat to the well-being of his client.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal also prayed that the court must issue directions for preservation of CCTV footage and preservation of call records of around the date of the incident and also seize the mobile phones of the said persons considering the nature of the case.

Vijay Aggarwal submitted before the Court that in the present case, his client was assaulted within the premises of the GPI offices which is under CCTV surveillance and the investigating agency has seized the recordings of only the relevant time when the assault on the person of his client took place.

However, the CCTV footage of the time before the assault took place, at which time the actual conspiracy must have been hatched and CCTV footage for the time after the assault happened must also have been seized in order to examine the conduct of the accused persons. He further argued that there is a high risk that the accused persons will destroy the evidence before the investigating agency is able to secure the footage. Therefore, there is grave urgency in the matter.

The Court, while issuing notice on the plea filed by Samir Modi on June 21, 2024, directed that the CCTV footage at the entrance to the offices of Godfrey Phillips India Ltd for the date of the assault on the person of Samir Modi be preserved and summoned the investigating officer to be present today.

Taking action on the plea and considering the severity of the allegations, the investigating officer in the case submitted before the court today that he has seized CCTV footage from the cameras installed at the GPI offices for one month to unearth the conspiracy hatched by the accused persons and the same is under examination.

Advocate Aggarwal argued before the court that there is a requirement for urgent intervention and monitoring of the court on how the investigation is being conducted in the present case. "It has been more than two weeks since his client was assaulted within the premises of the GPI offices and till now, the investigating officer has not even recorded the statements of the accused persons. Some of the accused persons are not even in India right now and the investigating officer had not taken any steps to ensure that same does not happen," Aggarwal said.

The lawyer further argued that the mobile phones of the accused persons have not yet been seized despite a lapse of two weeks from registration of the FIR and there is grave danger of the call records being destroyed.

"There is also a need to preserve the call records of the accused persons to ensure a fair and proper investigation and to unearth several crucial facts and circumstances such as who gave the instructions to the PSO of Bina Modi to restraint his client, what conversation took place between the accused persons after the attack and several others factors which would enable the investigating agency to unearth the conspiracy hatched by the accused persons," Mr Aggarwal said.

Considering the arguments of Advocate Aggarwal, the Court issued a fresh summons to the investigating officer to be present before the court on the next date of hearing on June 27, 2024.

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