Madras High Court Grants Bail To Savukku Shankar In Attempt To Murder Case

The Madras High Court has granted bail to YouTuber Journalist Shankar alias Savukku Shankar in an attempt to murder case.

Granting him conditional bail, Justice Victoria Gowri observed that a person's liberty cannot be taken lightly just because the allegations are grave. The court said that when the presence of an accused can be secured through conditions, continued incarceration was not warranted.

"The liberty of a citizen is not to be weighed lightly merely because allegations are grave. The law insists that liberty and investigation must be balanced with judicial care. Where the presence of the accused can be secured by conditions and where the apprehensions of the prosecution can be neutralised by safeguards, continued incarceration would not be justified merely as a matter of course," the court observed.

As such the court granted bail to Shankar upon him executing a bond of Rs. 25,000 with two sureties each for a like sum to the satisfaction of Madhavaram Judicial Magistrate. The court has also asked Shankar to appear before the police daily and to co-operate with the investigation.

The case was registered against Shankar for allegedly attacking a Sub-Inspector of Police while Shankar was being brought to Puzhal prison from Oncole (Andhra Pradesh), after being arrested in connection with an alleged cheating and extortion case.

As per the prosecution, while Shankar was being brought to Puzhal prison, the vehicle was stopped midway to allow him to urinate. At that time, some men came in another car and started a quarrel with the Sub-Inspector of Police, abusing him in filthy language, and pelted stones at him. It was argued that Shankar also pelted stones against the officer and caused panic among the public. Thus, another case was registered against Shankar and men for offences under Sections 296(b), 125, 132, 109(1), and 351(3) of the BNS.

In his plea, Shankar argued that no such occurrence had taken place and a false story was being cooked up against him. He submitted that he was arrested when he came back to Ongole after visiting his ill mother in Bangalore, and while he was in custody, the present case had been foisted against him with an ulterior motive to detain him as a Goonda under the Tamil Nadu Goondas Act.

Opposing the plea, Additional Public Prosecutor A Damodaran submitted that Shankar was a habitual offender who had 48 cases pending against him. He argued that after his interim bail came to an end, Shankar should have surrendered before the police as a law abiding citizen, but he instead absconded. The APP submitted that if Shankar was let out on bail, there was every possibility that he would abscond and threaten the witnesses and thus, he should not be granted bail.

The court noted that the prosecution was objecting to the plea mainly on the ground that a detention order had been passed against Shankar. The court noted that such a detention order will not take away it's jurisdiction to consider a bail plea arising out of a particular offence.

"Preventive detention and punitive custody in a criminal case operate in different fields. A preventive detention order may have its own life and validity subject to challenge in appropriate proceedings. However, the mere existence of such detention order cannot denude this Court of its jurisdiction to consider a bail petition arising out of a particular crime. The entitlement to bail in a criminal case has to be examined independently on the facts of that case," the court said.

In the present case, the court noted that Shankar had expressed his readiness to comply with any conditions that may be imposed by the court. The court thus observed that any apprehension of the prosecution, that Shankar would interfere with the investigation, could be taken care of by imposing stringent conditions.

Thus, the court allowed the plea and granted him bail. The court also made it clear that the observations in the plea are only for disposing the bail plea and should not affect the investigation.

Case Title: Shankar @ Savukku Shankar v The Inspector of Police

Case No: Crl OP 11627 of 2026