The Chennai police on Monday (May 24) filed an FIR against Tamil magazine Vikatan, YouTuber Maridhas and political commentator ‘Savukku’ Shankar for speaking against G Square Realtors, a real estate company reportedly close to the DMK family.
The complaint was filed by real estate firm G Square Realtors, after Vikatan published an article in which it exposed how the company was receiving favours owing to its proximity to the DMK and MK Stalin’s family.
The complaint stated that a Chennai-based businessman named Kevin, along with Vikatan, Maridhas and ‘Savukku’ Shankar, conspired to tarnish the reputation of their founder and managing director Bala Ramajayam.
It also claimed that Kevin had threatened to publish false news against the real estate company if they did not pay a bribe of ₹50 lakhs per month.
According to the complaint, Ramajayam allegedly received a phone call from Kevin on January 18, 2022 where he claimed to be a close associate of Vikatan Group’s Directors and threatened to publish false news if payment is not made. Vikatan has denied any ties with Kevin. The magazine has said that when the real estate company sent them a defamation notice on on March 3, 2022, they had asked for Kevin’s details, but received no response.
The Chennai Police arrested Kevin on Sunday (May 22) based on the same complaint.
The complaint mentioning Maridhas’ name states that the YouTube on May 15, 2022 posted a video “containing malicious and slanderous baseless allegations”.
G Square Realtors is a real estate company which aggregates land parcels for selling to big corporates and setting up IT parks. It also has several luxury housing projects to its name. The company has come under focus over allegations that it has seen a meteoric rise owing to its close ties with the family members of DMK chief MK Stalin.
In April 2021, the Income Tax department officials raided the residence of G Square Realtor’s Managing Director Bala Ramajayam and the company’s premises. As per media reports, IT raids at G-Square premises were part of an investigation against MK Stalin’s son-in-law Sabareesan. During the same day, IT officials also conducted raids at premises of Senthamarai Sabareesan, daughter of Stalin and Karthik Mohan, a close associate of Sabareesan and son of Annanagar DMK MLA Mohan.
Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu like the AIADMK and BJP have condemned the DMK government calling it an attempt to crack down on critics.
Leader of Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami called the action a shameful attack on media freedom.
K.Annamalai, the state BJP president, also condemned the police’s attempt to stifle media voices for ‘exposing the dubious dealings of DMK family’.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.