Three held for flying drone near PM Modi's rally in Gujarat

Three persons have been arrested for allegedly flying a camera-mounted drone near a venue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally at Bavla village in Ahmedabad district, police said.

Modi addressed a rally at the village on Thursday as part of the BJP's campaign for the Gujarat Assembly polls. Flying of drones near the venue had been banned by the district collector for security reasons.

Before the rally, police spotted some persons using a remote-controlled drone to capture the visuals of the crowd, said inspector Bharat Patel, a local police official.

"These three local men were capturing visuals of the crowd for their personal purpose. We arrested them and booked them under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 188 (violating official orders)," he said.

Elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases - on December 1 and 5, and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 5.