The Madras High Court on Friday restrained the police from filing a charge sheet against YouTuber Karthik Gopinath accused of having unauthorisedly collected public donations for renovating a temple. The court, however, made it clear that the investigation in the case against him can proceed further.
Justice N. Sathish Kumar passed the interim order after the police sought more time, despite two adjournments already granted, to produce the materials to suspect that he had diverted the donations to his personal accounts. The orders were passed on a petition filed by the YouTuber to quash the First Information Report.
His counsel V. Raghavachari argued that the delay on the part of the police in producing the records only exhibits that they had registered the case and also arrested his client without any substantive materials. He urged the court to stay all further proceedings pursuant to the registration of the FIR.
However, the State Public Prosecutor contended that the police would not be able to collect any material if the entire investigation was stayed.
