Puri: The Singhadwara police have registered criminal cases against 10 persons for entering into the security cordon on the Rath Yatra day violating curfew norms and Covid pandemic.
The criminal cases were registered after the Police scanned the CCTV footage, drone and live telecast footage on the Rath Yatra day to identify any intruders present inside the cordon during the festival.
The administration has banned the participation of the devotees in the Rath Yatra, clamped curfew in the town and sealed all the roads to the Rath Yatra venue to ensure that no devotees enter the town to witness the festival.
Police acting on media reports about the presence of outsiders in the cordon of the chariots conducted a preliminary investigation and identified ten persons and booked them in criminal cases.
City DSP Janardan Padhi said these persons would be prosecuted for violating curfew and pandemic.
This apart, police sealed eight rooms of a lodge in the town for allowing borders to go to the roof and watch the festival, the DSP said. The administration has also banned any gatherings on the rooftop of the houses on both sides of the 3 km long Grand Road, the venue of the car festival.
He said the investigation is on and many more offenders would be identified and prosecuted.
The residents and lawyers of Puri demanded that action should be taken against the music director, mine owner and contractor who had breached the security and entered into the prohibited area violating the curfew and covoid pandemic norms.
UNI