Taj Mahal fashion shoot query for Miss Universe

12 Oct heraldsun

MISS Universe could go to jail for breaking Indian heritage laws in an unauthorised fashion shoot at the Taj Mahal.

American Olivia Culpo, who is of Indian descent, now faces a formal legal investigation over the shoot at the white-marble monument to love.Police Inspector Sushant Gaur said Culpo and others in her group are accused of violating India's Heritage Act. Culpo, from Cranston, Rhode Island, was on a 10-day visit to India.

If found guilty, they can be jailed for up to two years and fined 100,000 rupees ($1600), Guar said.He said they shot a commercial for footwear at the Taj Mahal on Sunday without the permission of the state-run Archaeological Survey of India. Police acted on a complaint received from the ASI on Thursday, Gaur said.

Indian police file a case as a first step in investigating a complaint. They formally charge a suspect in court at the end of the investigation.Indian media said commercial activity is banned at the World Heritage Site.Miss USA Olivia Culpo has won the Miss Universe pageant in Vegas. Watch a snippet of her promo video here. Courtesy MissUniverse.com Culpo posed for photographs wearing one sandal, holding another in her hand and keeping another pair on the bench she was sitting on, Guar said. That bench is often called "the Diana seat" because it is where Princess Diana was famously photographed alone as her marriage to Prince Charles disintegrated.Culpo left India on Sunday night. A representative in India declined to comment.But Cuplo, speaking to the Providence Journal of Rhode Island on Thursday, expressed regret over the photo shoot.

"I guess their vision was, 'What's better to identify India than the Taj Mahal?' But unfortunately it's something that was highly offensive. Honestly, I did say out loud at one point, 'Isn't this a little inappropriate? Culpo was quoted as saying on the newspaper's website.