CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Police on Tuesday registered a case against TVK general secretary (election campaign management) Aadhav Arjuna for allegedly posting a provocative message on social media regarding the stampede at the Vijay’s Karur rally. Though he deleted the message shortly later, after receiving backlash from several quarters, the screenshot of his message was shared widely on social media.
Alleging police excess, Arjuna in his message warned that if the police continued to act as subordinates of the ruling class, the only option left for the youth was “revolution, just like in Sri Lanka and Nepal,” in a reference to the recent uprising in Nepal and the one that happened in Sri Lanka in 2022. He subsequently edited the message to remove the references to Nepal and Sri Lanka before taking it down.
The remarks drew sharp criticism from political parties across Tamil Nadu. By evening, the North Zone Cyber Crime Police registered a case against him for allegedly provoking youth to revolt.
Police said the case was booked under sections 192 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 196(1)(b) (promoting enmity between groups), 197(1)(d) (spreading misleading information affecting sovereignty and security), and 353(1)(b) & 353(2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the BNS.