T.N. government orders immediate release of YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar, sets his detention aside

The Tamil Nadu government has ordered the immediate release of YouTuber A. Shankar alias ‘Savukku’ Shankar from detention. 

In an order issued on Tuesday (May 19, 2026), the government said that Mr. Shankar must be released forthwith “as there is no sufficient cause unless he has been detained under any other law or is serving any sentence having been convicted by any court.”

The grounds of detention of the YouTuber were placed before the Advisory Board under Section 10 of the Tamil Nadu Preventive Detention Act, 1982 (Tamil Nadu Act 14 o f 1982). 

The Advisory Board perused the grounds of detention, the report of the detaining authority sent to the government, and the connected records. It also heard the oral representation of the detenue. 

Unanimous opinion

“The Advisory Board has expressed its unanimous opinion that there is no sufficient cause for the detention of Shankar @ Savukku Shankar,” the government said in its order. 

This is the third time the detention of Mr. Shankar, under the Tamil Nadu Preventive Detention Act, 1982, is being set aside. Days after his first detention order was quashed by the Madras High Court in August, 2024, he was detained for an alleged offence under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in Theni.

Last week, the Madras High Court granted bail to Mr. Shankar in an attempt-to-murder case registered against him on charges of pelting stones at the escort police personnel who accompanied him to Chennai following his arrest in Ongole, Andhra Pradesh, on April 8, 2026.