CHENNAI: The Madras High Court directed the State to file an explanation whether the 17 cases lodged against YouTuber 'Savukku' Shankar arose from a single offence.

In his petition seeking to club all the cases against him, Shankar submitted that as cases were registered at several police stations, he was being taken to all the places where the complaints were registered.

As he was granted bail in some of the cases, he should not be detained in other cases, Shankar’s counsel argued.

After the State sought time to get instructions about the details of the complaints, Justice G Jayachandran posted the matter after three weeks for further submission.

The Coimbatore Cyber Crime police had arrested Shankar for statements during an interview aired on YouTube that allegedly degraded women police personnel. Later, 16 criminal complaints were lodged against Shankar at various police stations.