Fact Check: Vijay did not suspend cops for laughing during Coimbatore rape-murder presser

A video of three police officers laughing during a press conference about a minor’s rape and murder in Coimbatore has caused outrage on social media. People condemned the officers for not taking the case seriously.

Now, people are claiming that Tamil Nadu’s new chief minister, Vijay, has suspended those officers. Many even compared Vijay to Anil Kapoor’s character in “Nayak”.

For example, an X user claimed, “A man who became CM just 10 days back has outshined Nayak’s Anil Kapoor. Five days back there was a press conference in Coimbatore regarding the police action in the case of rape and murder of a ten-year-old girl. Three IPS officers were seen laughing during this press conference. Everyone felt bad about it. But CM Vijay chose not to ignore this matter. Fulfilling his duty, he suspended all three IPS officers. And even apologised to the family of the victims.” Its archive can be viewed here.

India Today Fact Check found that the police officers who were seen laughing during the press conference have not been suspended. The media relations officer for the Tamil Nadu Police confirmed this.

OUR PROBE

The police officers seen in the viral video are Tamil Nadu West Zone Inspector General Ramya Bharathi, Coimbatore Superintendent of Police Pawan Kumar, and Deputy Inspector General Swaminathan. The press conference in question was on May 23. If the three officers had actually been suspended, it would have been covered by all major Tamil Nadu news outlets. But we did not find any such report. In fact, Sun News called this misinformation.

The Media Relations Officer for the Tamil Nadu Police, Balaji, told India Today Fact Check that claims of the officers being suspended were completely false.

WHY WERE THEY LAUGHING?

We spoke to India Today’s Coimbatore correspondent Sudhakar B, who was present during the press conference in question. He said that IG Ramya Bharathi told reporters that some senior officials were arriving, and the press conference would start after a brief discussion with them. She asked the journalists to wait outside and said she would call them once everything was ready.

Following this, some journalists went outside. However, others remained in the room. ANI and Puthiyathalaimurai TV continued sharing the live feed for at least 20 minutes before the press conference.

It was during this time that Maasanam, a photojournalist working at Maalai Murasu TV, jokingly asked the IG to switch off her mobile phone during the press conference. He said the word “mobile phone” in Tamil. Ramya Bharathi allegedly didn’t understand the word and laughed. All of this was before the actual press conference.

India Today Fact Check also spoke to Maalai Murasu TV photojournalist Maasanam, who said that IG Ramya and the other police officers laughed at his funny gesture. He also added that this happened when the media was asked to wait outside by the IG.

Coimbatore Press Club president and PTI journalist Kamaraj Karupusamy has also issued a clarification about this incident, adding that the laughter captured on the viral video happened before the press conference.

Sudhakar told us that many Tamil Nadu news channels picked up this pre-conference footage. However, when they later found it was off-the-record, they deleted it. In fact, many Tamil Nadu news outlets issued clarifications. For example, one such outlet wrote in a Facebook post that this video shows an off-the-record conversation.

Thus, it’s clear that the viral claim of the officers being suspended is false.

(With inputs from Sudhakar B and Pramod Madhav)