Hospet: The miscreants, who had pushed the ancient pillars of the Vishnu Temple down to the ground on February 1, were remanded to police custody, here on Monday, February 18.
Addressing the media, Superintendent of Police Arun Rangarajan said that the miscreants in custody were identified as Ayush Sahu (24), Raju Babu (21), Raj Aryan (22) and Rajesh Chaudari (24).
Rajesh Chaudhary was arrested in Hyderabad on Thursday, February 14.
SP Arun Rangarajan said that Ayush Sahu was an engineering student and the rest three were employees of a private company.
He confirmed that one from Madhya Pradesh and the rest four from Bihar had come down to Hampi to visit the historic monuments as well as tour the place. In this gang, one had left separately to roam and the rest four had visited the historic Vishnu Temple. Rajesh Chaudhary was the one who had captured pillar felling scenes on mobile.
The miscreants had given a statement stating that the four pillars were already fallen and that they had pushed one just to have fun, and they had no knowledge of the great history of the place.
SP has said that they had realised their mistakes and accepted the misdeeds.
Four teams under the leadership of PSIs Kalinga, Chandan, Mohammad Gaus and Pampanagouda were formed.
According to SP Arun Rangarajan, the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) believes that the incident happened about a year ago.
He said, “It might be true.”
ASI has confirmed the custody of the accused through a tweet on February 6.
