At an official, high-profile event in London, attended by Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, a few Indian journalists were allegedly caught pilfering silver cutlery from their table and one was made to pay a fine of £50, according to a report in the Outlook.
Some other journalists are believed to have stealthily kept cutlery in their bags during the official dinner at the luxury hotel. But when security staff told them that their act was caught on CCTV cameras, they kept them back on the table, embarrassed.
One journalist, however, insisted he had not stolen anything. He was not aware that the CCTV cameras had caught him putting his stolen cutlery into a fellow journalist’s bag. At this point, the hotel staff threatened to report him to the police, but they let him off with the £50 fine after he finally confessed.
His newspaper confirmed the incident to Outlook: “It’s true.”
The magazine has not named the journalists or the media houses they work for. A Bengali news website that named some of them later took down its report.
The date of the dinner is not clear. Banerjee last visited London in November.
Senior journalists accompanying CM Mamata Banerjee on her visit to London "stole silver cutlery during official dinner, fined £50". An editor confirms to @Outlookindia : "Yes, it's true."https://t.co/skE2xjHeWG
— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) January 9, 2018
I'd call upon my professional colleagues to urge Editors Guild to take suo motu notice of story accusing journalists of pilfering silverware. Guild should inquire and publish findings. Not only honour of accused journalists but of media fraternity is at stake. @rajchengappa
— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) January 9, 2018
If story about journos stealing silver cutlery, put out by https://t.co/31l7utsOpk, is true then it was an embarrassment for CM Mamata Banerjee on foreign soil. For me, as CM she represents #India when she travels abroad. I'd not want that to happen. @derekobrienmp is story true? https://t.co/csAlCopWf0
— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) January 9, 2018
Security staff, who were initially hesitant to raise an alarm, after much deliberation, decided to confront the dignified guests. Most of the journalists, ashamed of their deeds, returned the silverware.
Amid this, the journalist who did not come out initially stuffed his loot in someone else’s bag and hence confidently asked the security team to search him. However, the CCTV cameras had recorded his cleverness too.
As per the Outlook report which quotes a Bengali journalist, this particular man has a “habit of regularly pilfering cutlery and other goods from hotels during foreign tours though this is the first time he got caught.”
