Chennai: Well-known Tamil weekly Nakkheeran editor was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly publishing an article against Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit over a “sex scandal” involving an assistant professor. He was arrested at the Chennai airport while he was on his way to Pune, airport officials reported.

Senior journalist R Gopal, who runs the vernacular Nakkheeran, was pulled aside by a police team from the airport, they said.

The Zam Bazaar police team picked him up from the airport. No FIR has been registered against the editor according to some reports.

The news website claimed Gopal was arrested on the basis of a complaint from the Raj Bhavan over an article on Nirmala Devi, an assistant professor of a private college in Virudhunagar, who had been arrested for allegedly pushing girl students to extend sexual favours to officials. Devi was arrested after an audio clip of her purported conversation with her students was shared on social media in April last year.

Others arrested in this case are Karuppasamy, a research scholar, and V Murugan, an assistant professor. 

In the report, Nakkheeran had alleged that Devi met Purohit four times. The governor has denied the allegations and said he does not know Devi.

There was no immediate confirmation from police officials on the reason behind Gopal's arrest, even as officials in Raj Bhavan could not be reached for any comment.