Days after Youtuber Maridhas has thrown several allegations against the journalists of Tamil Nadu and the News 18 Tamil Nadu television channel, the Network 18 Broadcast Limited, which operates the News 18, has approached the Chennai city police against the allegations made by the Youtuber. 

In its complaint, the Network 18 has said that the allegations made by Maridhas are false and mischievous and the national broadcast group further denied the statements of the Youtuber that the News 18 Tamil Nadu has been biased based on the religion. By dismissing the allegations, the broadcast group pressed that it has been regarding all the religions equally and it doesn't have grounds for religious discrimination or any such anti-Hindu campaign as alleged by the Youtuber. 

Maridhas runs a Youtube channel under the name of 'Maridhas Answers' and he has been regarded as a pro-BJP activist and had been caught up with controversies previously. This time, he has cemented a campaign targeting the journalists attached to the News18 Tamil Nadu. In a video that he released in his Youtube channel on July 2, Maridhas directly accused the channel and the journalists of being 'anti-Hindu', 'anti-BJP', and 'anti-India'. 

He went on to accuse the journalists of the channel of having direct connections with the Dravidian outfits in the state. By personally attacking the channel's editor, Maridhas alleged that about 70% of workers in the channel have been supporting the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), Tamil Nadu Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and Communist party.

By labeling the channel as anti-Hindu, the Youtuber said to the viewers that he has written a complaint to the Network 18 broadcast group that the News 18 Tamil Nadu unit has been religiously biased and incited the viewers to move their complaints to the national broadcast group. Soon after his video got published, it went viral and triggered targeted campaigns across the state against the journalists and News 18 Tamil Nadu channel. 

His allegations had erupted the heat and controversies as media fraternities had voiced against the Youtuber on Social media while his supporters and followers had echoed his statements and accused the channel and journalists under the hashtag of Save the journalism. Amid the developments, Maridhas has released another video on July 10 in which he claimed that he got a reply from the Network 18 group.

In his video, he had shown a screenshot of a mail he got which he pressed that he got it from News 18 Editor Vinay Sarawagi. The Youtuber went to say that his allegations have got attention from the national broadcast group. The mail in the screenshot from Sarawagi read "As an institution of unbiased professionalism, we have conducted a preliminary investigation and found most of your allegations are true. We assure you that suitable actions will be initiated to prove our commitment to unbiased journalism".

By having the screenshot, Maridhas avowed that his allegations are true. However, taking many to surprise, the real Vinay Sarawagi came to the spotlight and issued a tweet in which he asserted that " There is a forged email in my name circulating on Twitter and WhatsApp. My office has initiated legal action in the matter." But, Maridhas stood at his stand and claimed that the mail has come from the News18 server and he checked its authenticity. 

There is a forged email in my name circulating on Twitter and WhatsApp. My office has initiated legal action in the matter.

— Vinay Sarawagi (@jagora) July 10, 2020

The Network 18 has dismissed his claim and allegations and has now approached the police against the Youtuber. In its complaint to the Chennai police, the national broadcast group has accused Maridhas of forging the mail from a senior editor at the network and issuing the mail on the social media channels. By labeling the allegations of the Youtuber as false, the network group said that his video had instigated the feelings of Hindu people in Tamil Nadu. 

The network has also stated that the statements made by Maridhas are defamatory in nature and he also has forged a mail and claimed to have received from the Network 18. The group added that his video would further stimulate the followers of the Hindu religion which would incite to create offenses against the reporters and editor of News 18 Tamil Nadu and it would also damage the public peace.