Tamil YouTuber Felix Gerald arrested for 'spreading rumours' about Karur stampede

Tamil YouTuber Felix Gerald

Noted Tamil YouTuber Felix Gerald was arrested on Tuesday for "spreading rumours" over the Karur Vijay rally stampede incident which claimed 41 lives and injured over 50, news agency PTI reported citing police.

The arrest comes close on the heels of police registering cases over 20 people for allegedly spreading rumours over the stampede and following the arrest of three persons. Gerald runs a YouTube channel featuring content in Tamil on current topics.

According to a report by The Times of India, police said Gerald uploaded interviews with guests, including Leo from Savukku Media Limited, and the videos went viral on social media. However, it was not immediately clear whether his detention was linked to a specific video.

Gerald’s staff was quoted by TOI as saying that a team of officers identifying themselves as city police personnel arrived at his residence in Kamdar Nagar, Kodambakkam, around 7.15 am, showed him documents, and took him for inquiry.

“When we tried to trace him, we first went to Nungambakkam police station and later to the city police headquarters, but he was not present at either place,” one staff member was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, a special police team arrested a Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) functionary Pounraj for allegedly harbouring party office-bearer Mathialagan, a key accused in the stampede case, who has already been arrested.

Mathialagan was among the three TVK office bearers named in the FIR on the stampede incident.

TVK state general secretary Bussy Anand and party deputy general secretary Nirmal Kumar are the other two party office bearers named in the FIR.

The three TVK functionaries have been booked under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 125 (endangering life of others), and 223 (disobedience to order), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act, 1992, has also been levelled against them, a police official said.

According to the FIR, TVK chief Vijay "deliberately" reached late at Velusamypuram in Karur district, leading to overcrowding and restlessness among the people, gathered to attend his rally on September 27.