BJP Tamil Nadu Youth Wing president SG Suryah on Tuesday, 13 January 2026, accused the ruling DMK and the Tamil Nadu Police of fabricating a criminal case against him and several BJP workers following an altercation outside a television debate venue in Chennai, stating that those who were attacked had been falsely turned into accused.
Addressing the media, Suryah read out portions of an FIR filed by a woman, which forms the basis of the fake case registered against BJP members. The complaint alleged that she was attacked at the Daily Thanthi office complex on Poonamallee High Road when she arrived around 8.15 PM on 9 January 2026 for a television debate (the debate was going to get over at 8.30PM).
Reading from the FIR, Suryah said the complainant had alleged that BJP workers, including a person referred to as “Rowdy Surya”, abused and assaulted her, slapped her, kicked her in the stomach, threw stones at her, threatened to kill her and attempted to outrage her modesty.
The FIR further claimed that BJP workers told her, “We are the ones who make the rules in Chennai,” and warned her, “If you come here again, we will stone you to death.”
Suryah rejected these allegations, calling the FIR “completely false” and “politically motivated.” He said the incident took place in a media complex with CCTV cameras and multiple mobile recordings, and that the available footage clearly showed DMK members attacking BJP workers, not the other way around.
“If such an incident had really happened the way this woman claims, would the DMK have remained silent?” he asked. “They would have put her in front of the cameras and broadcast it 24/7. This itself shows how motivated this FIR is.”
Suryah said BJP workers had been attacked by DMK cadres, and that the police had rescued him and taken him inside the premises to safety. He alleged that after this, DMK workers attacked police officers and television channel security guards, injuring several of them.
“We saw blood on a police officer’s hand. We saw Thanthi TV security guards beaten, with one person’s head broken and another’s hand fractured and bleeding. All those who did this were DMK members,” he said.
However, Suryah alleged that instead of booking the attackers, the police registered a case only against BJP workers. He said three injured BJP workers had filed complaints from the hospital, but those complaints were ignored, and the names of the victims were instead added as accused in the FIR.
He further claimed that 10 to 15 BJP Youth Wing members were identified using CCTV footage and included as accused, while no DMK attackers were named.
Suryah said the BJP had secured interim protection from the High Court, and that the FIR itself showed how “manufactured” the case was.
He also alleged that a Dravidianist YouTuber and commentator named Senthilvel played a key role in triggering the incident. According to Suryah, Senthilvel had earlier created disturbances during a similar debate on January 8 and had then returned with DMK supporters the next day.
“This raises serious questions about whether he is acting as a mouthpiece for the DMK,” Suryah said, alleging that Senthilvel was being financially supported and “used to attack anyone who criticises the DMK.”
Suryah claimed that even channel editors had privately told him they were being pressured by the ruling party to include Senthilvel in debate panels.
He alleged that the violence was deliberately engineered because opposition parties – the BJP, AIADMK, Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam and Naam Tamilar Katchi, were dominating public debates and exposing issues related to law and order, governance failures and corruption.
“Since they couldn’t counter us in debates, they sent goons to create riots so that such programs cannot be held without police permission,” he said, calling the episode a “deliberate political conspiracy.”
Suryah also claimed that BJP workers had called the police emergency number at 7.45 PM on the day of the incident, warning that DMK cadres were gathering to attack them, but additional forces were not deployed in time.
“The police could have reached the venue in five minutes. They did not. We believe this was due to pressure from DMK leaders,” he alleged.
He said one BJP worker who had protected him during the violence had since been jailed, while cases had been filed against those who defended him.
“If this is how a youth leader of a party in power at the Centre can be treated, what security does an ordinary citizen have in Tamil Nadu?” Suryah asked.
He said the BJP would pursue all legal and constitutional remedies, including demanding that police register cases based on their complaints and produce all video and CCTV evidence.
“The truth is on video. DMK members attacking us is on record. But they have turned the victims into accused. This is a complete abuse of power,” he said.
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