10 booked for breaching inner cordon of chariots

PURI:  Police on Thursday identified 10 persons who had allegedly entered the inner cordon of the three chariots during Rath Yatra triggering huge outrage and an inquiry. Simhadwar police, in its preliminary investigation, zeroed in on the persons and registered criminal cases against them. 

The ten were identified as Gobinda Krushna Das, his brother Atul Krishna of Kurukshetra in Haryana; Somanath Sahu, Ranjan Kumar Patra, Subrat Panda, Bhabani Jena, Manoranjan Mishra, Rajdip Harichandan, Raghunath Saraf and Biswanath Sahu, all from Puri town. 

 Interestingly, they all had posted their selfies in the social media. Besides, all CCTV, drone and live telecast footages are being scanned to identify other intruders. DSP Janardan Padhi said the accused would face action for violating curfew norms.  Meanwhile, police sealed eight rooms of a lodge for allowing boarders to go on to the rooftop and watch the festival, the DSP informed. 

Meanwhile, ahead of the Bahuda Yatra on July 17, the Rath construction monitoring committee on Thursday examined the wheels, axles and other fittings of the three chariots and found cracks on two wheels of Taladhwaj (Lord Balabhadra’s chariot). 

The team was headed by the executive engineer of PWD and examined the chariots before Dakshina Moda (giving a southern turn to the chariots to park them at the exit gate of Gundicha temple for Bahuda) for repairs, if needed. The ECoR technical team along with carpenters and blacksmiths carried out the necessary repairs on the day.