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Naam Tamilar Katchi chief coordinator Seeman has been booked after visuals of him losing his cool and abusing a TV journalist during a press interaction in Puducherry on Sunday, November 23, went viral on social media.
The incident occurred at a press conference in Villianur, Puducherry, before the Naam Tamilar Katchi’s consultative meeting of office bearers from Cuddalore and Puducherry ahead of the 2026 assembly elections.
During the interaction, M Rajiv, a TV channel reporter, reportedly questioned Seeman about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the Union government’s withdrawal of approval for metro rail projects in Coimbatore and Madurai.
Enraged by this, Seeman used abusive language and asked the reporter to leave. Reports suggest that a few party cadres allegedly pushed the reporter and warned him not to raise such questions in future.
Following the incident, the Puducherry Print and Journalist Association lodged a complaint at the Villianur police station.
A case was subsequently registered against three party men, including Seeman, under sections 296(b) (obscene act or singing), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The Puducherry unit of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) condemned the incident. DMK state organiser and Leader of Opposition R Siva said political leaders must display magnanimity, maturity and patience while responding to the public and the press.
Other journalists’ bodies and organisations, including the Chennai Press Club and the South Indian Journalists’ Union, also condemned the incident and demanded immediate action against the NTK chief Seeman and his party cadres.