TIRUNELVELI: YouTuber Maridhas has been arrested by the Melapalayam police on Thursday, December 16, 2021, in a case that was registered against him during the previous AIADMK regime for portraying Tablighi Jamaat as the reason for the spread of Covid 19 in Tamil Nadu.
The police are in the process of bringing Maridhas from the Theni sub-jail to produce him before the Judicial Magistrate here.
On April 4, 2020, one Mohamed Kader Meeran, a resident of Melapalayam filed a complaint against Maridhas for the latter’s video on YouTube and Facebook linking Tablighi Jamaat’s Delhi conference with the spread of Covid 19. Based on his complaint, the police sub-inspector Vijay Golden Singh registered a case against Maridhas under Sections 292 (a), 295 A and 505 (2) of Indian Penal Code and 67 B (a) of The Information Technology Act – 2000.
It is noted that on Tuesday, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court quashed the FIR registered against him by the Madurai police for his controversial tweet in which he claimed that Tamil Nadu is 'turning into another Kashmir under DMK governance', following the death of Chief of the Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat in a chopper accident in Coonoor.
While his supporters were attempting to bring him out of jail, the Melapalayam police arrested him in jail in a different case.
Maridhas is also facing a case for defaming Gunasekaran, former Editor-in-Chief of News18 Tamil Nadu television channel.