Four jailed for filming Ganga aarti

VARANASI: Four youths arrested on Thursday evening for videographing Ganga aarti with the help of a 'cam-copter' at Dashashwamedh Ghat without official permission were sent to jail on Friday. The police were investigating the matter on the basis of their statements given during interrogation.
Police said the arrested youths have been identified as Sandeep and Vipul of Chandigarh, Satish of Delhi and Shivshankar of Mumbai."The arrested youths have been booked under Section 188 of the IPC for shooting without permission and sent to jail," said Dashashwamedh police inspector.
"They were caught while shooting Ganga aarti using drone camera. The Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) personnel spotted them and alerted the Dashaswamedh police which seized the equipments. During interrogation they reportedly claimed that the shooting was done for a documentary on ghat life for a private company. Under this project, they had also shot at other places like Allahabad, Agra, Shimla and Manali. In Varanasi they had taken permission for general shooting from July 5 to 7 only. But, they extended the shooting without official permission in restricted area," said ADM (City) M P Singh.
The city and its riverfront had been a target of terrorists from 2005 to 2010. Sheetla Ghat witnessed a blast on December 8, 2010. Earlier, on February 23, 2005 eight persons were killed in a blast at Dashaswamedh Ghat while a powerful bomb was found near the ghat on February 28, 2005. Serial blasts at Sankat Mochan temple and Cantonment railway station rocked the city on March 7, 2007, while serial blasts took place on the district court premises on November 23, 2007.
In view of the sensitivity of the matter, the police and intelligence personnel seem to have taken the matter seriously and have exhaustively interrogated the four youths. However, the police did not divulge any further detail.
The Ganga aarti at Dashashwamedh ghat attracts large number of visitors, including foreigners and VVIPs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also attended the Ganga aarti after winning the Lok Sabha election from Varanasi.