The Karnataka High Court on Friday ordered a police inspector to explain why he denied giving a copy of the FIR and made officials from a private drone company wait over six hours at a police station. The court also stayed the police investigation based on an FIR registered suo motu by Doddaballapur Rural police on January 29. The FIR was filed under Sections 125 and 329(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against unknown persons. Justice M. Nagaprasanna issued the interim order after Bengaluru-based Newspace Research and Technologies filed a petition. The company supplies drones to the Indian armed forces and has a testing center on leased land in Doddaballapur. The petition stated that on June 29, a lightweight research drone suffered a battery problem during a routine test and landed safely on neighboring property. The company did not search for it immediately due to darkness. Later, a police constable took the drone to the police station upon an alert. The FIR was then registered against unknown persons. On January 30, police issued notices to company officials. The officials explained that their drone testing is licensed and legal under the Drones Rules, 2021. Despite this, Inspector Sadiq Pasha refused to provide the FIR copy and demanded detailed company information such as employee numbers, turnover, and revenue. The officials were kept waiting for about six hours at the police station. The FIR copy was only given after the company’s legal adviser threatened to file a complaint with the Lokayukta.