Tamil social media influencer Karthik Gopinath was arrested and taken under judicial custody till June 13, informed police on Monday.
"Gopinath was arrested by Avadi police in the morning hours for fraudulently collecting funds in the name of renovating Siruvachur Temple managed by the HR&CE department," said the police officials.
The arrest was made under a complaint filed by Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department Executive Officer who alleged that he had cheated devotees and collected more than Rs 50 lakh through a fundraiser site for renovating statues in Arulmigu Madhura Kaliamman temple in Siruvachur in Perambalur district.
The state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Annamalai in his Twitter post condemned the arrest and mentioned that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is resorting to intimidation tactics.
Annamalai had tweeted, "As usual, DMK is resorting to intimidatory tactics when under pressure. The arrest of Karthik Gopinath on completely trumped charges is not only condemnable but also shows the level to which this Government will go to silence an uncomfortable voice."
Karthik Gopinath is a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) critic and friend of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Annamalai. A Youtuber with over 2 lakh subscribers, Gopinath runs a channel called Ilaya Bharatham on the social media platform.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor