Five persons, including a retired police officer, have reportedly been arrested by the Tamil Nadu police for allegedly making defamatory comments on social media against Madras High Court Justice N Senthilkumar over his criticism of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leadership in a case related to the Karur stampede.

According to reports by The Hindu and TOI, the arrested persons include Kannan (25), a TVK supporter from Pudukottai; M David (25), a TVK supporter from Bargur; Sasikumar (48) from Chennai and Antony Sagaya Mikael (37) from Thoothukudi.

Reports add that all four persons are now in judicial custody. Kannan, Sasikumar and David were arrested on Sunday, while Antony was arrested on Monday, the TOI report said. A report by The Federal said that two of the arrested persons - David and Kannan - have since issued statements apologising for their remarks against the judge.

DTNext has further reported that R Varadharajan (70), a retired police officer who runs a political outfit, has also now been arrested by the police for making derogatory comments against the judge.

On October 3, Justice Senthilkumar had strongly condemned TVK's founder, actor-turned-politician Vijay, and other members of the party for 'fleeing' the scene of the stampede instead of focusing on rescue and assistance. The September 27 stampede had led to the death of 41 persons.

In the October 3 order, the judge proceeded to order a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the stampede, after expressing that the State's investigation into the matter appeared to be inadequate.

More recently, the judge reportedly shrugged off the trolling directed against him on social media following his October 3 order. According to a report by The New Indian Express, while hearing another case filed by a fashion designer against defamatory remarks, the judge on Monday remarked,

“Who is not trolled? Even judges are not spared; their past is pulled in and family members are also brought in."