The Madras High Court has issued notice on a plea filed by IPS officer and former Tamil Nadu DVAC Chief Arun seeking to restrain YouTuber Shankar @ Savukku Shankar from making defamatory content against him. The IPS officer has also claimed damages to the tune of Rs 1 Crore from Shankar.

Justice K Govindarajan Thilakavadi has issued notice to Shankar, Google, YouTube and X Corp (previously Twitter).

Arun has moved the court seeking to restrain Shankar, his agents, followers, or any other person acting on their behalf, from publishing, republishing, broadcasting, uploading, circulating, sharing, transmitting, posting, reposting, or disseminating any content containing defamatory allegations, insinuations, or imputations concerning Arun, whether by name, photograph, designation or otherwise.

The officer also claimed Rs 1,00,05,000 as damages from Shankar for the loss of reputation, emotional distress, mental agony, professional harm caused to Arun and the violation of his dignity and privacy. As an interim measure, Arun has also sought directions to YouTube and X Corp (previously Twitter) to take down the infringing content that was posted by Shankar against Arun.

It may be noted that earlier this year, Shankar had approached the court seeking a CBI probe based on the recent remarks made by a division bench of the High Court, where the bench had censured the IPS officer for passing a detention order for extraneous considerations.

In his plea, Shankar submitted that despite such a grave observation by the High Court, the State had not taken any action against the officer. He added that the continued inaction of the State, despite clear judicial censure, has given rise to a reasonable apprehension that no impartial enquiry or investigation would be undertaken by the State authorities.

The court had, however, rejected the plea, observing that public interest litigation is a tool intended to reach marginalised and vulnerable segments of society and not a tool for vindicating personal animosity. The court also noted that the personal allegations made by Shankar against Arun would show that the intent behind the PIL was not purely public-spirited.

Shankar had also made allegations against Arun through videos on his YouTube channel. This has prompted the officer to approach the court seeking to restrain Shankar and for damages.

Case Title: A Arun IPS v A Shankar @ Savukku Shankar and Others

Case No: CS 195 of 2026