YouTuber arrested for flying drone over Jagannath temple in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Animesh Chakraborty, a YouTuber who flew a drone over the no flying zone in Odisha’s Puri that houses Lord Jagannath’s temple Srimandir and posted the photographs on his social media handle, was arrested on Wednesday, the Puri police said on Thursday.

Chakraborty was arrested by Puri Police in Barrackpore area in Kolkata, Puri police said on Thursday.

As per sources, Animesh who was evading arrest since the incident was finally nabbed from Kolkata by a special team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) City, K K Hariprasad. The team kept an eye on Chakraborty’s movements over five days before finally arresting him from Barrackpore on Wednesday.

The incident came to the fore after a video of ‘Nilachakra’ and the aerial view of the 12th-century temple went viral after it was shared by one Krushna Chandra Padhy on his social media account on December 3, 2022. The clip was earlier uploaded by Chakraborty on his YouTube channel Animesh YouTube.

The 5 minute 43 seconds video gave an aerial view from Nilachakra (top of the temple) to Singhadwara. The YouTuber had also thanked the Odisha Police in the video.

However, after an outrage over the viral video, Chakraborty apologised for the same and said he had lied that he had taken permission from the police. He sought forgiveness from Lord Jagannath, four crore Odias and the police administration.

He said he was not aware of the fact that the Srimandir is a 'no-flying zone' nor did his drone show any warning. He said he had committed the mistake unknowingly.