‘Savukku’ Shankar arrested again

A special team of police arrested him at his office in T. Nagar, Chennai, after a special court in Madurai issued a non-bailable warrant against him

YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar was arrested again by police in Chennai on Tuesday (December 17, 2024) hours after the Principal Special Court for Essential Commodities and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act Cases in Madurai issued a non-bailable warrant against him as he failed to appear for proceedings in the case of alleged possession of ganja.

Theni District Police had in May arrested one Mahendran at Kamudi in Ramanathapuram district, claiming that he had supplied ganja to Shankar and his accomplices, and seized 2.6 kg of ganja from him after conducting a search. Earlier, Palanichettipatti police had arrested two of Mr. Shankar’s accomplices, Ramprabhu and Rajarathinam, and claimed to have seized 500 grams of ganja from their vehicles.

In connection with the case, the Special Court in Madurai had previously granted Shankar conditional bail. During the last hearing, his advocate filed a petition seeking to exempt his personal appearance.

However, Judge M. Chenkamalaselvan on Tuesday issued non-bailable warrant against Shankar as he repeatedly failed to appear for court proceedings, and posted the matter for hearing to December 20.

The order was communicated to Chennai City Police. Subsequently, a special team of police arrested him at his office in T. Nagar and kept him at Teynampet Police Station to be handed over to Theni District Police.

It may be recalled on May 4, Shankar was arrested by Coimbatore Police from Theni for allegedly making derogatory statements about women police personnel and a few Madras High Court judges during an interview to the YouTube channel ‘RedPix 24x7’ on April 30, which led to filing of several FIRs against him.

On August 9, the Madras High Court set aside the Chennai City Police Commissioner’s order to detain Shankar under the Goondas Act and directed that he be set at liberty forthwith if he was not required in any other case. On August 14, the Supreme Court had asked the Tamil Nadu Police not to take any coercive action against Shankar on the basis of these FIRs.

In September, Shankar, who was incarcerated for months in various cases, walked out of jail after the Supreme Court ordered his release.

Published - December 17, 2024 05:55 pm IST