The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday, 19 May 2026, ordered the immediate release of YouTuber A. Shankar, popularly known as Savukku Shankar, from preventive detention after the Advisory Board concluded that there was no sufficient cause to continue holding him under the Tamil Nadu Preventive Detention Act, 1982, as reported in The Hindu.
In its order issued on 19 May 2026, the government directed that Shankar be released forthwith unless he was required to be detained under any other law or was serving a sentence imposed by a court following conviction in another case.
The government stated that the grounds of detention had been placed before the Advisory Board under Section 10 of the Tamil Nadu Preventive Detention Act. The Board examined the detention records, including the report submitted by the detaining authority, and also heard the oral representation made by the detenue.
Following its review, the Advisory Board reportedly expressed a unanimous opinion that there was no sufficient cause for Shankar’s continued detention. Based on this recommendation, the Tamil Nadu government revoked the detention order.
This marks the third occasion on which preventive detention proceedings initiated against ‘Savukku’ Shankar have been set aside. In August 2024, the Madras High Court had quashed an earlier detention order against him. Soon after that order was struck down, he was detained again in connection with an alleged offence registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in Theni district.
More recently, Shankar had also moved the Madras High Court seeking to quash a case registered against him over the alleged publication of a confidential document relating to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2021 visit.
Last week, the Madras High Court granted bail to Shankar in an attempt-to-murder case registered against him following his arrest in Ongole, Andhra Pradesh, on 8 April 2026. The case was linked to allegations that he had pelted stones at escort police personnel while being transported to Chennai after his arrest.
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