YouTuber 'Savukku' Shankar arrested

Chennai: YouTuber 'Savukku' Shankar was arrested from his residence here on Saturday, a police official said.

Five others of the political commentator's team were also arrested.

Police claimed that Shankar declined to open the door when the investigating officer knocked at his residence here this morning. "He refused to open the door, insisting that the police first speak to his advocates before stepping in," an official said.

Two police officers could be heard stating that they were willing to provide the details for the arrest and even show the warrant if the particulars were sought in a proper manner by the advocates, in a video that went viral on social media.

Police should not be prevented from discharging their duties, they said in the video.

Hours before his arrest, Shankar released a video on his social media handle claiming that the police were trying to arrest him in a "false" case filed by a film producer.

"The police issued summons in October end, and I replied stating that the said film producer had never visited my office or that I had sought money to remove a video that allegedly defamed him," Shankar said in the video.

He further said that the police claimed that he and his team beat up the producer and "snatched" Rs 2 lakh from him and demanded a hefty sum to delete the video. "This is all fabricated and such incidents never happened," he said.

Shankar alleged that the police were after him at the instigation of a senior official.