Tamil Malar legal advisor K Saraswathy has claimed that the scuffle outside the daily's office in Kuala Lumpur erupted after Deputy Youth and Sports Minister M Saravanan arrived.

This contradicted Saravanan's claim that the fracas started before he was there and that he had told everyone to leave.

Saraswathy produced closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage to back up her claim. However, Saravanan's face was not visible.

“As you can see, there was only one security guard at the door leading up to the office. I stood next to him together with (Tamil Malar owner) Oms Thiagarajan when Saravanan came at 11.56am.

“Oms was speaking to him. I asked him (Saravanan) why he brought all these people to my premises but he was rude to me,” she claimed when met at her office this afternoon.

Based on the footage, Saraswathy claimed the fight started at 11.57am when a man turned over the security guard's table and chair.

“I suspect that was the 'signal' (for the fight). Saravanan just stood by while the fight happened.

“And then at 11.59am, Saravanan’s long-time assistant and driver snatched my phone and threw it on the floor,” she alleged.

Eyewitnesses claim that up to 80 men, some clad in “MIC Taskforce” shirts, had been involved in the fight. Oms was punched and had his shirt torn after allegedly engaging in an argument with Saravanan, while photographer S Shanmugam was slapped in the face.

Thiagarajan suffered from a swollen forehead, shoulder pain, and cuts to his back. He is currently undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at a hospital in Klang, said Saraswathy.

Saravanan, who is also the Federal Territory MIC chief, has maintained that he was not responsible for the scuffle, and had only showed up to break up the fight.

"The video footage is very clear, I wasn't even near the fight. I asked them (the group) to disperse.

"Both sides have lodged police reports, so let the police investigate. I went to Dang Wangi police station to tell my version of events today.

"No one is above the law and there were lots of eyewitnesses, from my side it is clear," he said when contacted today.

He had said yesterday that those involved were "MIC Youth boys" who had gone to the daily's office to "clarify" a Sept 3 Tamil Malar front-page article about rental issues on a property owned by the Federal Territory MIC, which he had called "fake news".

Saraswathy said yesterday’s incident was the third time this year Saravanan has appeared at Tamil Malar’s office.

“Twice he has brought ‘gangsters’ with him. But yesterday was the first time we were physically hit. Things like this scare and intimidate my staff,” she said.

MIC-sponsored gangsterism?

At a press conference later, Saraswathy demanded MIC take a stand on the incident.

“MIC leaders, whether president Dr S Subramaniam or Youth chief C Sivarraajh, must come out to say if the group of men involved represented them. Does MIC have anything to do with this hooliganism or does this only concern Saravanan?

“MIC has to answer because unless they give us an explanation, we will say this is ‘MIC-sponsored gangsterism’,” she said.

Executive editor SM Periasamy claimed Saravanan had shown up at the daily’s office despite agreeing to be interviewed on the Federal Territory MIC rent issue.

“I had assured him that I would publish his reply on the front page.

“I am so sad that a deputy youth and sports minister would bring along youths to do this. He should be showing a (good) path for youths. It’s a shame,” he told reporters.

Also present at the press conference was DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang, who urged that Saravanan apologise over the incident and that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak condemn the attack.

Meanwhile, The Sun reported that the police have questioned 11 people, including Saravanan, regarding the fracas. 

"We have questioned people on both sides to get a clearer picture and to move along investigations, we have also questioned Saravanan," the daily quoted Dang Wangi police chief ACP Sukri Kaman as saying.