The Sampadak Express News Desk
Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) functionary and recent Dharapuram (SC) bypoll candidate M. Karthika was arrested on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, in connection with a case linked to a protest held during a roadshow by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and TVK leader C. Joseph Vijay in Tiruppur district, according to The Hindu. Police also arrested all co-accused named in the case, including her husband.
The case was registered on October 4 against Ms. Karthika and seven others, among them her husband Murugan Chandrakumar, over a demonstration staged as Mr. Vijay canvassed for his party’s candidate P. Sathyabama. On Tuesday, Ms. Karthika and Mr. Chandrakumar were picked up in Coimbatore, detained at the Peelamedu police station, and taken to Dharapuram. A video widely shared on social media showed women police personnel escorting Ms. Karthika into the Dharapuram police station.
Earlier on October 4, Ms. Karthika and 20 others had been detained for blocking a road in protest at being denied permission to campaign along the Chief Minister’s roadshow route. At the time, she alleged the TVK was distributing cash and gifts to voters and accused authorities of ignoring the practice.
NTK chief coordinator Seeman condemned the arrest, alleging “false charges” and calling the police action evidence of the TVK government’s “fascist and retribution” politics. In posts on X, he said the government’s collapse “was not far” and charged that, rather than addressing law and order and “reining in TVK partymen indulging in criminal activities,” authorities had resorted to a “fabricated case.” He demanded the immediate release of Ms. Karthika and others and warned the “vengeful” arrest would lead to “disastrous consequences.”
DMK president M.K. Stalin also called for Ms. Karthika’s release, alleging the TVK government was intimidating political opponents through arrests. He said women from oppressed communities who enter public life should be encouraged, regardless of ideology. “We never thought of silencing her through arrest. But the TVK government behaves like an autocratic and undemocratic government,” he said in a statement. Accusing the government of misusing power during the by-election, he added that arresting a candidate for questioning alleged misuse “smacked of a dictatorial attitude and a sectarian mindset,” and cautioned that “police officers who arrest people for bailable offences will face the condemnation of courts.” Mr. Stalin further alleged the arrest was intended to divert attention from a seizure of drugs from a TVK functionary.
