Puri Police Registers Case Against Kolkata-Based YouTuber For Flying Drone Over Jagannath Temple

Puri: A day after a video of aerial views of Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri went viral, a police case was registered against Kolkata-based YouTuber Animesh Chakraborty on Sunday for flying the drone equipped with a high-definition camera over the 12th-century shrine.

According to sources, the case was registered against Chakraborty at the Singhadwar police station in Puri on the basis of preliminary inquiry  conducted by a 3-member team led by the city DSP into the incident.

Further action will be taken after thorough investigation against the YouTuber who allegedly flew drone cameras, took aerial videos of  Jagannath Temple and uploaded them on social media, sources said.

Meanwhile, Chakraborty has tendered an apology for flying the drone and capturing video of the temple without permission.

He said he had visited Puri around 2-3 months back for taking aerial images of the temple with permission from the Puri police. “Everything happened hurriedly and I failed to ask the police for the shooting due to a shortage of time and incessant rain,” he said.

Animesh said that he uploaded the drone shots on his YouTube channel on November 19 after he found many videos on Puri Srimandir on social media platforms and blogs. “I thought there is no restriction in uploading such materials on YouTube. I gave credit to Puri police in the post so that no blogger can fly the drone randomly over the area,” he clarified.

He apologised to Puri SP for using his name for flying a drone over the temple without permission. “I am extremely sorry for my mistake. Please forgive me Lord Jagannath,” he said with folded hands.