TN Police Book Vikatan, Savukku Shankar & Maridhas Over Complaint From Govt, Real Estate Firm

The FIR named the prime accused as a man identified as Kevin who demanded Rs 50 lakh in order to hold the article against the real estate firm without getting it published. 

Maridhas (L) Savukku Shankar (R)

Chennai: Junior Vikatan, a bi-weekly Tamil magazine, a social media influencer Savukku Shankar and a YouTuber have been booked after an article was published against a real estate firm based on the complaint from the firm, G Square Realtors. The complaint was based on an article that alleged that the real estate company was receiving favours due to a link with a few people associated with the ruling DMK party.

According to a report on The News Minute, the complaint was filed by Purushotham Kumar on behalf of G Square Realtors Private Limited and the founder of the firm Ramajayam.

The FIR said, the prime accused was a man identified as Kevin who demanded Rs 50 lakh in order to hold the article against the real estate firm without getting it published. 

Further, it said, Kevin called Ramajayan on January 18, 2022 claiming that he was an associate of Vikatan Group's Directors so if they fail to pay the sum, the article will be published and the social media influencers including former Vigilance employee-turned activist Savukku Shankar and YouTuber Maridhas will be forced to write defamatory comments.

Following this, Kevin was arrested on May 22 and has been kept in judicial custody. Savukku and Maridhas have also been named in the FIR.

However, Vikatan group denied any ties with Kevin. Vikatan also sought details of Kevin to take action against him but the realty firm did not provide any detail, Vikatan’s legal counsel told TNM.

About Junior Vikatan, Purushotham said, Junior Vikatan has continuously, intentionally publishing false and defamatory articles about the company and founder Ramajayam. 

 Responding to the accusation, Vikatan's legal counsel said, a false complaint has been lodged against the Vikatan group. The top brass who have been named in the complaint also has nothing to do with the editorial decisions of the company.

The false complaint is an assault on freedom of the press by the state machinery, the counsel added.