Coimbatore police on Thursday filed a case against Hindu Makkal Katchi leader Arjun Sampath for announcing a cash reward of Rs 1,001 to anyone who kicks actor Vijay Sethupathi for allegedly insulting Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, patriarch of the Thevar community.
On November 7, the party, also known as Indu Makkal Katchi, had put out a tweet saying, “Arjun Sampath announces cash award, for kicking actor Vijay Sethupathi for insulting Thevar Ayya. 1 kick = Rs.1001/- for anyone who kicks him, until he apologises.”
The News Minute reports that the police registered a case against Arjun Sampath under IPC sections 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (1) (Criminal Intimidation). Further investigation is underway.
According to Arjun Sampath, Sethupathi had allegedly insulted Muthuramalinga Thevar during an altercation with a bystander at the Bengaluru airport earlier this month.
A video of the incident, which went viral, shows a man jumping on one of the actor’s aides, while the police and Sethupathi try to stop the brawl. Subsequently, Bengaluru police registered a suo motu case against the assailant, who reportedly attacked the aide after Sethupathi refused to take a selfie with him.
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However, Arjun Sampath later told India Today that Maha Gandhi, the man who attacked Vijay Sethupathi, claims the latter had insulted Muthuramalinga Thevar, which resulted in the altercation. “Maha Gandhi wanted to wish Vijay Sethupathi for receiving the National award. But Vijay Sethupathi was sarcastic and said that this is not a nation at all,” the HMK leader told the publication. He added that Maha Gandhi was “taken aback” but still invited the actor to attend Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar Puja as he was from the southern districts. “But Vijay Sethupathi again replied sarcastically that the only Thevan (God) in the world is Jesus. This led to the altercation. He insulted Pasumpon and the nation.”
While Sethupathi has not commented on the claims made by Arjun Sampath, he had told The News Minute earlier that the altercation at the airport was “a very minor issue (that) was blown out of proportion because an onlooker shot the incident on his phone.”