Bengaluru: Four youngsters, who were arrested for vandalising the pillars of the UNESCO world heritage site in Karnataka's Hampi, were on Wednesday ordered by a magistrate court to go back to the site and re-erect the pillars.
They were also slapped with a fine of Rs 70,000 each and told to give the court an assurance that they would not indulge in such an act again.
Earlier this month, a video of four people toppling the pillars behind the Vishnu temple complex at Hampi was widely circulated on the social media. It received severe criticism, prompting the Bellari police to lodge a complain and also took to task officials from the Archaeological Survey Of India (ASI), who are responsible for the maintenance of heritage sites.
The men, identified as Raja Babu Chowdary (21) and Rajesh Kumar Chowdary (24) hailing from Bihar, RA Raja a BE student from Bengaluru and Ayush Sahu from Madhya Pradesh were arrested on February 7 and sent to judicial custody. During interrogation, they confessed to having vandalised the structures and said they did it out of 'sheer excitement'.
They said they had gone to Bellari to appear for Railway’s recruitment exam and confessed to not knowing the significance of the 14th century structure.
Judge Poornima Yadav from Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Court in Hosapete took a stern view of the crime and, to set an example, ordered that the youth be taken back to the spot in order for them to understand the gravity of the situation.
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