Drone spotted at no-flying zone at Puri Jagannath temple; probe on

Bhubaneshwar: A drone was spotted over the Puri Jagannath temple in Odisha, sparking security concerns on Sunday. The drone was found around 4:10 am and remained hovering in the area for nearly half an hour, prompting the start of an investigation since the area is a no-flying zone, PTI reported.

A police officer said that different teams had been formed to investigate the incident.

Expressing concern, Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan said, "Flying a drone over the temple is illegal and not acceptable. Strong legal action would be taken against the person who breached the security." "The Puri SP has formed teams and started an investigation into the incident. I hope that the person concerned will be identified and the drone will be seized," he added.

Mr Harichandan said that to ensure that such an incident does not happen in the future, the government is planning to deploy police personnel around the clock at the four watchtowers around the temple complex.

"It was suspected that some vlogger may have flown the drone above the temple. However, ill intention behind it cannot be ruled out," he said.

According to sources, information was received by the airport's administration about the drones, following which the alert was issued on Monday night. Flight operations were stopped at the airport for more than three hours after the drones were detected. One Air India flight from Delhi returned after it was denied landing due to disruption of services, India Today reported.