Sun Temple in Konark. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 17: Six youths were arrested for allegedly misbehaving with a foreigner woman at the Sun Temple in Konark. They were sent to the Nimapara jail after a local court rejected their bail.

This was the second such incident in the recent past when a woman tourist was attacked in Konark. On August 17, 2010, an employee of the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) was arrested on charges of molestation of a British woman. Later, the employee was sent to jail and was suspended from the corporation.

The Konark police identified today's accused persons as Y. Govinda, Md Fazzal, T. Ganesh, K. Sanosh, G. Hrushikesh and K. Maheswar. All of them hail are in their twenties and from Cuttack.

Police officials said that an Iranian couple, Md Rezawahwa and his wife Mahadiyan Saddat (23), were at the temple as part of their study tour. While Md Rezawahwa is a student of architecture in Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University, his wife was on a holiday in India. Later, they had planned for a study tour to Konark and had reached the place in the morning.

The incident took place around 11 am when they were busy taking photographs of the temple from different angles. The group of six youths led by Y. Govinda allegedly followed them around the temple. Later, Govinda allegedly wanted to photograph the woman from a very close quarter. The couple objected to it and asked the group to refrain from taking her photograph. There was altercation between Rezawahwa and the group followed by fisticuff.

The security officials on the temple premises immediately called the police and with the help of local people they prevented the group from attacking the Iranian couple.

Sub-divisional police officer Gopal Patnaik said that the couple left the place after the accused persons were taken into custody.