Videos spark anger, nannies cry innocence: Now, Bengaluru Capgemini creche probe takes a new turn

BENGALURU: City police have intensified their investigation into the alleged abuse of toddlers at a daycare centre operating inside Capgemini's Brookefield campus, questioning the accused caregivers, recording statements from parents and examining the operations of the outsourced agency that managed the facility.The case was registered after a complaint by an official from the Child Helpline, following videos purportedly showing toddlers being subjected to inhuman treatment at the crèche. Five women employed as caregivers — Manjula, Vijayalakshmi, Bhavani, Sindhu and Bindu — have been booked under provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with criminal intimidation.

The complaint was registered at HAL police station.City Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh on Thursday said he had directed a woman deputy commissioner of police to supervise the investigation."The day care centre was outsourced. We are checking whether the outsourced company is running day care centres in other parts of the city and what is the condition of those centres. But if the allegations are true, it is an unfortunate incident and should not have happened," he said.

Police identified the daycare operator as Little Scholars.According to the complaint, caregivers allegedly placed children inside a front-loading washing machine, made them sit on a western-style toilet, sprayed water into their mouths using a toilet jet spray, locked them inside bathrooms and threatened them into remaining silent. The children, aged between two and three years, are the children of tech employees working at the campus.Investigators inspected the premises on Wednesday and seized CCTV footage from the centre. Police said the videos allegedly show caregivers threatening toddlers whenever they cried or created a disturbance.The accused caregivers have denied the allegations during questioning."The nannies in their statements deny the allegations. They accept that they had shouted at the toddlers when they created too much of disturbance.

They maintain that one two-year-old boy, who could not sit on the western commode, was made to stand in the middle so that one nanny held him while another cleaned him," a senior police officer said.Investigators are also in the process of recording statements from parents whose children appear in the videos."We had requested two parents, whose children were seen in the video, to make statements. Since they had office, they told us that they will come by Thursday evening," an investigating officer said.Videos recorded by employee on notice periodPolice said the videos that triggered the case were allegedly recorded by a daycare employee identified as Sujata, who had been dismissed from her job and was serving her notice period."She recorded the videos on her mobile and shared them with a relative, who in turn handed them over to a Child Helpline officer," a senior officer said.However, investigators said older CCTV footage from the daycare allegedly shows a woman resembling Sujata threatening a toddler and locking the child inside a room."If proved, we will book a case against Sujata," the officer added.