YouTuber and whistleblower 'Savukku' Shankar was arrested by the Chennai cyber crime wing, immediately after the Supreme Court suspended his six-month prison sentence. The arrests came in the wake of cases lodged against him in 2020 and 2021. The four cases filed against him were related to offensive posts to compromising the security of the Indian Prime Minister, based on which the police arrested him on November 10.
On April 22, 2020, a complaint was lodged against Shankar by advocate Prakash Kumar, alleging that he had posted defamatory statements against All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leaders. Prakash, a member of AIADMK Advocates wing, alleged that Shankar on his Twitter page was posting abusive, defamatory and unsubstantiated statements against the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy, Former Deputy Chief Minister O Pannerselvam, former Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, OP Raveendranath Kumar MP, and his brother VP Jayapratheep.
On June 28, 2020, a complaint was lodged with the Chennai police seeking action against Shankar for posting a meme of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy and VK Sasikala. The complainant claimed that Shankar posted a photo that was morphed and alleged that Shankar was trying to instigate the general public and other political parties to stage a protest against the then Chief Minister.
On February 13, 2021, a complaint was lodged by a Deputy Secretary to Government (Foreigners), Protocol, Public Department, to the Commissioner of Police Chennai city seeking action against Shankar. The complainant claimed that on February 2, 2021, information was received that the Prime Minister would make a visit to Tamil Nadu on February 14, 2021. The said document was received on February 10, 2021, through email and was classified as ‘secret’ as the issue involved the safety and security of the Prime Minister. On February 11, 2021, a Twitter handle @Savukku tweeted, “Get ready guys, #GoBackModi” with a copy of a tour programme on the Prime Minister of India. The official programme posted was marked as ‘secret’ and disclosure of such programs in public domain exposed the Prime Minister to a serious security threat, the complaint alleged.
On the same day, a complaint was lodged with the Commissioner of Police, Chennai alleging that on February 13, 2021, at 9.08 am, Shankar posted a comment “#GoBackCowardModi” from his Twitter account against Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was scheduled to visit Chennai on February 14, 2021. Arrest memos were served to Shankar in all these four cases at Cuddalore Central Prison. He was arrested on Thursday, November 10, between 4.25 pm to 4.35 pm in connection to all these cases at the Cuddalore Central Prison. Shankar was being brought back to Chennai and would be produced before the Egmore Magistrate court. He has been remanded to judicial custody till November 25 in all four cases and will be lodged in the Cuddalore prison.
On Friday, November 11, the Supreme Court suspended Savukku Shankar’s six-month imprisonment ordered by the Madras High Court. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and KJ Maheshwari also directed Shankar to refrain from making videos or comments about any proceedings before the High Court. However, soon after the judgement was pronounced, he was arrested by the Chennai Central Crime Branch’s Cyber Crime wing for cases registered in 2020 and 2021.
This development took place just a day before the Supreme Court was about to hear Shankar’s appeal against the Madras High Court order. The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court sentenced Shankar to six months in prison after he was held guilty of criminal contempt of court. Justice GR Swaminathan initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against Shankar for saying that the “entire judiciary is riddled with corruption” and implying that the judge “met” someone in connection with a case against right-wing YouTuber Maridhas.
Watch: Savukku Shankar arrested for Go Back Modi tweets | EPS | Supreme Court | DMK |ADMK