Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) MLA from Sholingur in Ranipet district G Kapil and his brother Dhananjeyan have been booked by Sholingur police following a complaint that two journalists were detained, assaulted and threatened while reporting on an altercation involving a YouTuber.

The case was registered based on a complaint by journalist T Aranganathan, who is undergoing treatment following the alleged assault. According to the FIR, Kapil and Dhananjeyan have been booked for the charges of committing obscene acts, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation

Aranganathan said that himself and another journalist, Kalyanasundram, went to the spot after learning that a YouTuber, Siva, had been assaulted. The journalists began recording the developments on their mobile phones.

The complaint alleges that Kapil, his brother and their supporters then confronted the journalists, assaulted them and confined them inside the premises. Their mobile phones were allegedly taken away and the videos they had recorded were deleted. The journalists have also alleged that they were threatened with death.

The incident follows a confrontation between Kapil and Siva outside a theatre in Sholingur, where the YouTuber was interviewing people about their reactions to TVK cadres after a screening of Jana Nayagan, starring TVK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay.

According to reports, Kapil allegedly attempted to attack Siva during the interaction. A video of the confrontation subsequently circulated on social media.

On July 27, Kapil, Dhananjeyan and more than 20 others allegedly went to Siva’s residence, forcibly took him to a nearby YouTube studio and assaulted him, according to reports. After learning about the incident, Aranganathan, a reporter with Dinakaran, and Kalyanasundram, a Dinamalar reporter, went to the studio and began recording what was happening.

The two journalists were allegedly assaulted after they began filming. They were also allegedly forced inside the studio and their phones were taken away.