Savukku, launched in September 2010, anonymously published Tamil- and English-language allegations concerning corruption among government officials, politicians, judges and journalists. Its reported operator, former Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption clerk Achimuthu Shankar, had earlier been accused of leaking a 2008 recording involving DVAC director S. K. Upadhyay and Tamil Nadu chief secretary L. K. Tripathi. Prosecutors charged him under Sections 66, 70 and 72 of India’s Information Technology Act, alleging unauthorized access to a computer and publication of the recording. Shankar denied the allegations and said he was tortured and pressured to implicate officials; on 24 February 2017, the XVII Additional Sessions Court in Chennai acquitted him, finding that the prosecution had not produced sufficient evidence.
On 28 February 2014, the Madras High Court ordered the Union government to block Savukku after Sun TV employee Mahalakshmi filed a defamation proceeding, describing the site’s attacks on judges, advocates and civil servants as grossly demeaning. The site continued through proxies and mirrors; a web designer, Murugaiyan, was arrested on 31 January 2014 and released on bail after 21 days, while alleged host Pothi Kalimuthu was arrested on 24 July 2014. The legal pressure continued when the High Court sentenced Shankar to six months for contempt on 15 September 2022 over remarks that the higher judiciary was corrupt; the Supreme Court suspended that verdict on 11 November 2022. In May 2024, Shankar was arrested again over alleged derogatory comments about women police officers and was reportedly detained under the preventive Goondas Act, prompting renewed criticism that criminal and administrative powers were being used against a contentious online publisher.
