Whistleblower and popular political commentator ‘Savukku’ Shankar on Saturday walked out of the Central Prison in Cuddalore, two days after a local court granted bail to him in four cases registered by Crime Branch’s Cyber Crime Wing between 2020 and 2021.
Shankar was lodged in Cuddalore prison on September 15, 2022 after the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court awarded him six months imprisonment for contempt of court. However, the Supreme Court on November 11 suspended the six months jail sentence and ordered Shankar’s release from prison.
Hours before the SC order, the Tamil Nadu police had on November 10 arrested Shankar in four old cases registered in 2020 and 2021. On November 17, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Egmore granted bail to Shankar in all the four cases.
After completing formalities, the prison authorities released Shankar on Saturday morning. He was welcomed at the prison gate by journalists.
While granting bail, the court asked Shankar to appear before investigators for 15 days and not to comment on the four cases in interviews to the media.
Shankar, a suspended employee of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), runs a web portal under the name Savukku and is a regular on Tamil YouTube channels.
He was arrested in 2008 by the then DMK government for allegedly leaking a tape containing audio conversations of two top officials. After his release from the jail, Shankar became a whistleblower and exposed several scams.
Published 19 November 2022, 14:39 IST