PURI: Puri police have identified five more persons for allegedly entering into the security cordon on Rath Yatra day, violating curfew and Covid norms. Earlier, the Simhadwar police had registered criminal cases against ten persons for entering the prohibited zone of the chariots after scanning CCTV footage of the day. The intruders were identified as Santosh Kunar Patra, Ankit Patwari, Gopinath Sahu, Prasanna Mahapatra and Bibina Acharya, said DSP Janaradan Padhi.
The move came after devotees, social activists and media reports alleged presence of outsiders in the cordon of the chariots during the live telecast of the annual car festival. Since the administration had banned participation of devotees during the festival, clamped curfew in the town and sealed all the roads leading to the venue, presence of outsiders raised questions on implementation of law and order rules.
Although criminal cases have been registered against 15 persons on grounds of violations, no arrests have been made yet in the connection. Scanning of CCTV footage is still on.