A first information report (FIR) was lodged at Juhu police station after a drone camera was spotted flying over a posh hotel in the vicinity.
A first information report (FIR) was lodged at Juhu police station after a drone camera was spotted flying over a posh hotel in the vicinity. Sources said that organisers did not follow the protocol of taking prior permission from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for flying the drone camera.
At about 3.30 pm on Sunday, one Nandan Shrikant Koregaonkar, called the police helpline, informing that he was at the Square Restaurant of Novotel Hotel where a wedding function was being held in the garden when he saw a drone equipped with a camera flying over the garden.
Officials rushed to the spot and seized the drone camera.
They summoned Mr Koregaonkar for his statement on Monday, following which the police registered an FIR against the organisers, event managers and managers of Novotel Hotel.
When The Asian Age approached Mr Koregaonkar, he said that he saw one Jaydeep Saakriya operating a drone and approached him, only to be told to get in touch with Mr Saakriya’s boss, Love Israni, who then told Mr Koregaonkar that he did not have the requisite permission to fly a drone. Thereafter, Mr Koregaonkar called the police as drone flying is prohibited as per DGCA rules.
Upon conducting an inquiry, police official Vivek Pednekar came to know that Mr Israni had got the photography contract of the wedding from one Shiv Karmani. Also, Anil Kumar of Central Point Event Pvt. Ltd. — organisers of the wedding function, did not inform any authorities about it so their drone, camera and iPad worth Rs 2 lakh was seized and Mr Saakriya was taken to the police station.
An FIR was lodged under order number cp/XI/1134/2016 of the police circular, which orders prohibition on drone flying.
Senior police inspector of Juhu police station, S.R. Ghosalkar, said, “Yes, we have registered an FIR, as drone flying is prohibited, and our investigation is on. Our preliminary inquiry has revealed that they were just shooting the wedding function with the drone camera.”
