Senior journalists who were accompanying West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on an official tour to London were allegedly caught stealing cutlery from a hotel. One was also made to pay a fine of £50.
A report published in Outlook states that CCTV footage which was being live streamed during an official dinner showed how some of the guests were "flicking silverware from the large table around which they sat and stealthily stuffing them into bags and purses placed on their laps."
The security staff present at the hotel, where several high profile guests including Mamata were dining, were initially confused about what action could they take without embarrassing the dignitaries present.
The Indian journalists present at the dinner are senior editors of the publications they worked for.
A senior journalist with a prominent Bengali newspaper was allegedly the first one to steal a set of dessert spoons and stuff it in his pocket.
Other journalists present with him joined him soon and reportedly started stealing cutlery too without paying attention to the CCTV cameras surrounding them.
The security staff decided it was enough and quietly approached the journalists and informed them that their activities had been captured on camera. When asked to place the stolen cutlery back on the table, all of them ashamed by now, complied with the order. Except for one person!
This journalist first refused the accusations against him and even asked the security to check his pockets. He at that point, however, did not know that the security personnel had seen that he had stuffed the cutlery into the bag of another journalist who was sitting next to him in order to be in the clear if they were caught.
The man finally confessed and paid a fine of £50 before he was let go.