[Watch] Puri Police Summons Bengal YouTuber Who Flew Drone Over Jagannath Temple

Puri: As probe into the viral video of aerial views of Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri gained pace, Kolkata-based YouTuber Animesh Chakraborty was summoned by the police for flying the drone fitted with high definition camera over the 12^th century shrine.

Puri Superintendent of Police Kanwar Vishal Singh said that notice has been issued to Chakraborty under section 160 of CrPC asking him to appear at the Singhadwar police station in the seaside pilgrim town for questioning in connection with the episode.

After recording the statement of the accused, further action will be launched in accordance with law, he said, adding that a DSP rank police officer is leading the investigation in the case.

Stating that there are detailed guidelines prescribing restrictions on capturing pictures, videos and flying aerial objects over Jagannath Temple, he said appropriate action will be taken if any violation or illegal activities are found.

The SP said that a case has been registered against Chakraborty at the Singhadwar police station on the basis of a reported submitted by the city DSP after a preliminary probe into the incident.

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, police said.

The video uploaded by Chakraborty went viral on December 3, triggering statewide outrage. After the incident evoked sharp criticism, the YouTuber 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.