Udhayanidhi Stalin held for ‘sexual remark’ linking CM, actor; freed on bail hours later | Chennai News

CHENNAI/THANJAVUR: Former Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin was on Tuesday arrested for his alleged double entendre alluding to a popular female actor. He was released later in the evening on station bail.Udhayanidhi, TVK supporters said, had made a sexually loaded remark linking CM Joseph Vijay with an actress whose name the crowd was chanting at a Cauvery protest in Thanjavur Monday. Udhayanidhi denied the charge.On Tuesday morning, police knocked on the DMK politician’s door at Neelankarai, Chennai. Before his lawyers could move Madras high court for anticipatory bail, Udhayanidhi was taken away in a police van for a seven-hour ride to Thanjavur where the complaint was filed by a TVK backer.He was charged under Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act and Sec 67 of the Information Technology Act for “promoting social enmity, harassment and electronic obscenity”. He was also charged on seven counts under the BNS, including Sec 79 (insult to a woman’s modesty).“This is a joke,” Udhayanidhi said before being taken away. “We will fight this case legally.” The police van came to a crawl at many places as DMK cadres blocked the highway raising slogans against the TVK govt. Cadres also staged protests across the state.AIADMK joins DMK in slamming Udhaya arrestLate in the evening, Udhayanidhi was released after being questioned by Thanjavur police. DMK supporters showered petals and raised slogans.DMK president M K Stalin called the arrest an act of arrogance. “They have arrested him to prevent the leader of the opposition from attending the assembly when the budget is tabled,” he said. Stalin said Udhayanidhi neither referred to anyone in his speech nor made obscene remarks. “Some politicians condemning him for a remark which he never made is to divert attention from real issues,’’ he said.AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami criticised Udhayanidhi for the offensive remark but condemned the arrest as it was done the day before the state budget was to be tabled. “This attempt to hold the assembly session without the leader of opposition is highly condemnable,” EPS said.Around 7.20am, Thanjavur police arrived at Udhayanidhi’s Neelankarai residence. Soon, Stalin’s son-in-law, V Sabareesan, senior DMK politicians and a legal team arrived at the house objecting to the police action. They approached the Madras high court seeking urgent hearing of an anticipatory bail plea around 10.25am. Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan agreed to take up the plea at noon and orally instructed police not to precipitate the issue until then.However, police arrested Udhayanidhi and were en route Thanjavur by the time the court took up the case for hearing at 2.15pm. Advocate-general Vijay Narayan told the court that the state govt has no intention to remand Udhayanidhi, and that he would be released on station bail after questioning.The police entourage reached Thanjavur around 6.30pm. Since DMK cadres had thronged Thanjavur East police station, where the case was registered, police took Udhayanidhi to Sengipatti station. He was questioned there for more than an hour by a police team led by Thanjavur SP E Sundaravadanam and released around 8.10pm. Udhayanidhi got a loud reception by DMK cadres outside the police station before heading for Trichy airport. He took the day’s last flight to Chennai.