Principal Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate First Class Hosapete has slapped a fine of ₹70,000 each on the four youth who had indulged in vandalism at Hampi World Heritage Site.
The fine was levied after the four, Ayush Sahu, Raja Babu, Raj Aryan and Rajesh Choudhary, admitted their guilt and assured the court that they would not indulge in vandalism henceforth. All the four were also released on Thursday after they remitted ₹2.8 lakhs fine, the Hampi Police said.
It maybe mentioned here that recently, a video in which three youths were found dislodging a granite pillar on the ‘prakara’ of the ancient Vishnu temple, behind Elephant Stables at Hampi, had gone viral on social media. One of the accused himself had posted it on Instagram.
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After registering a complaint lodged by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Arun Rangarajan, Superintendent of Police, had formed four teams to nab the accused. The teams successfully cracked the case by arresting all the four from Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Madhya Pradesh, within a week from when the video had gone viral and remanded them to judicial custody for a week. The Hampi police, which had taken up the investigation, had filed the chargesheet.