In a shocking case, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani spotted a camera outside the changing room of a FabIndia outlet in Calangute in Goa.

According to the minister, the lens of the camera was pointed towards the changing room at the outlet. Subsequently, she made a call to local BJP MLA Michael Lobo who reached the outlet along with a police team.

Police are probing the clothing boutique for installing a CCTV that overlooks the store's changing room, a police official said.

Police Inspector Nilesh Rane said that Irani had visited the boutique in the north and was trying out clothes when one of her assistants noticed the camera and raised a hue and cry.

"The minister was in the store when one of her assistants informed her about the camera which was installed outside the changing room, but seemed to have a view of inside," Rane said.

While Irani could not be contacted, BJP's Calangute legislator Michael Lobo, who was on the spot, said the ruling BJP-led alliance government was taking the matter seriously.

"I along with the police are scanning the store's hard disk right now. The camera is in a very mischievous place and there is footage of women changing clothes for the past three to four months," Lobo said.

The Congress, meanwhile, claimed that the 'changing room scandal' was Goa's best kept secret, especially in tourism-oriented coastal villages.

"Not just this boutique. All stores with such a facility must be investigated. A union minister can at least alert the authorities but most people cannot," Congress spokesperson Durgadas Kamat said.

- Manohar