The Chennai police on Sunday arrested actor Thiruvadanai MLA Karunas, reportedly from his residence in Salingramam, days after he was booked for controversial comments made during a speech.
The actor-politician was booked by the Chennai city police on September 20 under various sections of the IPC and the Madras City Police Act, for the speech he made in Chennai, which had gone viral on social media. The speech was delivered at Valluvar Kottam in the city.
The arrest came days after there was speculation that Karunas was on the run. Speaking to reporters in Chennai on Friday, a day after he was booked, he said, “I have not gone underground or am not hiding. I am here in Chennai. If such false reports could be circulated against a legislator, it is worrying to think of the problems faced by the common man.”
Karunas had named Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam in his speech. The actor-politician claimed that though he belonged to the ‘Thevar’ community, his loyalties stood with the Sasikala camp but many ‘disloyal’ members of his community had flocked to the EPS camp, referring to OPS.
Stating that media outlets were owned by Iyers and Nadars, Karunas also attacked a police officer in his speech, who he claimed stopped him from standing next to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister at an event. The comments had triggered off a massive row in the state with the Hindu Makkal Munnani filing a complaint with Chennai Commissioner of police AK Viswanathan.
Speaking to Tamil news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai later, Karunas said that his intention was not to hurt any community.
“I didn’t speak against any community… I express my deep regret if whatever I spoke in anger over what has happened has hurt anyone. I will make sure it doesn’t happen again. As far as I am concerned, I only spoke about the demands of my community. It is not my intention to demean and speak ill of others,” he said.
Source: The News Minute