Justice GR Swaminathan presiding over the vacation court of the Madras High Court has granted bail to Savukku Shankar, who was arrested for allegedly spreading misinformation. The court noted that the charges against him did not justify his arrest.
The judge expressed surprise at the State’s decision to arrest Shankar for the allegations against him.
When the State argued that Shankar had been spreading misinformation through his YouTube channel and other media platforms, the judge remarked that the State could simply ignore the interview.
“Why arrest someone over this? Just don’t listen to the interview. Those who want to will listen, and that’s it,” the judge commented during the hearing.
Shankar, known for his YouTube channel Savukku Media, had filed a bail petition in response to a case accusing him of disseminating false information about an investigation into a multi-crore land fraud case. The allegations stem from interviews he conducted, including one on his YouTube channel and others on Tamil news channels in December 2024.
The case was filed under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 221 (Obstructing a public servant from discharging their duty), Section 222 (Failure to assist a public servant), and Sections 353(1)(b) and (2) (Making false statements with the intent to provoke an offence against the State).
The complaint was lodged by Siva Subramanian, an Inspector with the Land Fraud Investigation Wing II of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in Chennai. According to the complaint, Shankar had made baseless allegations in an interview on December 5, 2024, undermining the investigation into the land fraud case initiated by the South Chennai District Registrar.
During an inquiry on December 16, 2024, Shankar allegedly refused to cooperate, questioned the authority of the Inspector, and admitted he had no evidence to back his claims. Following this, the Inspector filed a complaint accusing Shankar of attempting to derail the investigation through false narratives.
ACP B Sampath subsequently registered an FIR on December 18, 2024, against Shankar, his media network, and two YouTube interviewers, Leo and Malathi. Inspector V Bharathi was appointed as the investigating officer.
‘Savukku’ Shankar, in judicial custody, was later arrested on 21 December 2024 by the Cyber Crime wing of Chennai Police.
However, on 17 January 2025, Justice Swaminathan ruled in favour of granting Shankar bail, stating that the charges did not necessitate his detention.
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