Chennai, Jan 16 A Pongal vacation bench of the Madras High Court will hear the bail plea of YouTuber Savukku Shankar on Friday in connection with a case related to spreading "misinformation".
Shankar has approached the court seeking bail in a case filed against him for allegedly spreading misinformation regarding an investigation into a multi-crore land fraud case.
It is alleged that Shankar, through an interview on his YouTube channel, Savukku Media, disseminated misinformation.
The police also claim he spread false information during interviews with mainstream Tamil news television channels in December 2024.
The case against Shankar was registered under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), following a complaint lodged by Siva Subramanian, an Inspector with the Land Fraud Investigation Wing II of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in Chennai.
The charges include, Section 221(Obstructing a public servant from discharging their duty), Section 222(Failure to assist a public servant), Sections 353(1)(b) and (2)(Making false statements with the intent to induce an offence against the State).
According to the complaint, the Inspector, who is the investigating officer in the land fraud case registered at the instance of the South Chennai District Registrar last year, found an interview given by Shankar on December 5, 2024, in which the latter made baseless allegations about the investigation.
The Inspector summoned Shankar for an inquiry on December 16, 2024.
However, during the inquiry, Shankar allegedly questioned the Inspector's authority and refused to cooperate.
When asked on what basis he concluded that a false case had been filed against an innocent person, Shankar reportedly admitted that he had no documents to support his claim.
The Inspector subsequently lodged a complaint with the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), accusing Shankar of attempting to derail the investigation by spreading false information via his YouTube channel.
Despite this, Shankar allegedly continued making allegations against the police in subsequent interviews with mainstream media. Following the complaint, ACP B. Sampath registered an FIR on December 18, 2024, against Savukku Media Network, Shankar, and two YouTube channel interviewers, Leo and Malathi.
The ACP also appointed Inspector V. Bharathi as the investigating officer in the case.
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