YouTuber Savukku Shankar’s house was vandalised on Monday, March 24, by a group of unidentified individuals who allegedly entered the premises under the guise of sanitation workers. The attackers poured sewage water, ransacked the house, and verbally abused his mother. The assault is believed to be in retaliation for Savukku’s derogatory comments on sanitary workers while he was speaking about alleged corruption in the distribution of sewer cleaning machines distributed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.
Savukku Shankar has accused the police of complicity in the attack. He said that the intruders arrived in a bus as he was leaving his residence. A stone was reportedly hurled at his vehicle. When his mother did not open the door, the intruders allegedly forced entry through the back door and proceeded to wreak havoc inside the house.
CCTV footage of the incident captures the trespassers pouring sewage water at the entrance and inside the premises. A separate video shared by Savukku on X (formerly Twitter) shows the intruders hurling abuses at him while he was on a video call with his mother. One of the female intruders is heard stating that she received a vehicle from M.K. Stalin before proceeding to hurl abuses at Savukku for his comments.
The Greater Chennai Police (GCP) intervened and prevented further escalation of the attack.
However, Savukku has accused Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President and MLA Selvaperunthagai K. of orchestrating the incident. He had, in his YouTube video alleged that Selvaperunthagai had procured the sewage cleaning vehicles distributed by MK Stalin under his nominees' names. "If someone told these sanitation workers that they don't need to do any work and yet will be paid Rs 50,000, they can drink and stay at home, won't they like it? All that they need to say is that the vehicle belongs to them," Savukku said in one of his videos. The police believe that this statement offended sanitation workers.
According to Savukku, a supporter of Selvaperunthagai, V. Vanishree Vijayakumar, also livestreamed the attack on Facebook.
Alleging the complicity of the police authorities, Savukku pointed out that his old house was sealed in May 2024 for possession of Ganja cigarettes, and no one barring the police knew his new place’s address.
“If sanitary workers have come in a bus straight to my house, it is because the police have orchestrated it and sent them here. I believe that this was orchestrated by Greater Chennai Police (GCP) Commissioner A Arun along with Selvaperunthagai,” Savukku alleged.
Following a complaint registered by Savukku Shankar's mother with the Kilpauk police on Monday, Chennai Commissioner Arun requested the Director General of Police (DGP) to transfer the case to another agency. The case was therefore, transferred to the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID).
Savukku, on March 24, also announced that he is shutting down his YouTube channel-Savukku Media Network.
It may be noted that in 2024, more than twenty cases were registered against Savukku Shankar, including the cases against him for possessing ganja and making defamatory comments against women police personnel. The Goondas Act, a stringent act that allows authorities to do preventive detention of habitual offenders, to prevent dangerous activities that could be detrimental to public order, was also invoked against him. After more than four months, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered the Tamil Nadu police to revoke Goondas Act against him and directed his immediate release.