Chennai, July 29 : The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu Police to expedite investigations in 13 criminal cases pending against YouTuber 'Savukku' Shankar alias A. Shankar, and file final reports before the respective jurisdictional magistrates within four months.

Justice P. Velmurugan, who passed the order, also instructed the trial courts where 24 other criminal cases against the YouTuber are pending to complete the trial proceedings within six months.

These cases have already undergone investigation and charge sheets have been filed by the jurisdictional police.

The directions were issued while dismissing a writ petition filed by Shankar, who had sought a directive to the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP) to consider three of his representations.

He had also requested the court to restrain the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police from interfering with the operations of his digital platform, Savukku Media.

Additional Advocate General, J. Ravindran, submitted that the Home Secretary and the DGP had already considered and disposed the representations made by the petitioner.

He added that the YouTuber was free to challenge those decisions through appropriate legal channels.

Justice Velmurugan observed that there was no material evidence to support the petitioner's claim that the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police was interfering in the functioning of Savukku Media.

He noted that the ongoing investigations and pending trials in a large number of criminal cases against Shankar provided sufficient context for the police's actions.

At an earlier hearing on July 14, the judge had asked the DGP to submit a list of all pending criminal cases against the petitioner.

Complying with the direction, the DGP submitted a report on Tuesday stating that a total of 38 criminal cases had been registered against Shankar.

Of these, 13 are under investigation, 24 are pending trial, and only one case has been closed.

After taking note of the submissions, the court ordered both the police and the trial courts to ensure speedy completion of all pending proceedings.

/IANS