Claim About Arul Saravanan Refusing To Remove Religious Idol From Chrompet Saravana Store Is False

A post about Chennai-based businessman Arul Saravanan is going viral on social media. The post speaks highly of his hard work and dedication and then claims that one particular community of customers requested him to remove the idol of Lord Ganapati from the entrance of the Saravana Store in Chrompet, Chennai.

The post alleges that the request later became an open threat that the customers would stop shopping from that store if the idol wasn't removed. It also claims that Mr Arul refused, stating that religion and spirituality have played a huge part in his growth, and he doesn't need a 'cheap' business like that anyway if they stop shopping at the Chrompet store due to the presence of the idol.

The post is being shared with the intention to pit religious communities against each other, by implying that the people from other communities are intolerant and praising him for his dedication to Hinduism.

A Facebook user said (translated), "Down with Islamic anarchy. Saravana Stores has said "no to your business" in response to the threat of people from other religions who insisted on taking out the Ganesh statue in front of the shop."

A Twitter used shared the image with the same text.

Aரேபிய அராஜகம் ஒழிக

சரவணா ஸ்டோர்ஸ் கடை முன்பு இருக்கும் விநாயகர் சிலையை எடுக்க வலியுறுத்திய மாற்று மதத்தினரின் மிரட்டலுக்கு பதிலடியாக "உங்கள் வியாபாரமே வேண்டாம்" என்று கூறி உள்ளார்.

ஜெய் ஸ்ரீ ராம் pic.twitter.com/wGJazXAQbA

— திராவிஷத்தை வீழ்த்த வந்த ஒமிக்ரான் (@omecraan) June 1, 2022

The claim can also be found here, here, and here. When we searched a part of the claim text on Facebook, there were a lot of photos of the same claim.

We also received messages on our WhatsApp fact check no. +91-6364000343 requesting to fact check the claim.

Claim:

Mr Arul Saravanan refused to remove an idol of a Hindu God from the store when a few customers complained and threatened him, and chose to give importance to his religion.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact Check Team verified the viral claim and found it to be false.

We first conducted a simple keyword search about the claim and were only led to Facebook posts. If the claim was legitimate, some media outlets would have covered it, but we couldn't find local stories from Chennai either.

We then looked up the ownership of the Super Saravana Stores in Chrompet, as the claim suggested that Mr Arul was the owner and he had gotten the request and threat from customers. The results of a Newsminute article and various biography websites showed that Mr Arul Saravana is the owner of multiple subsidiaries of the umbrella Saravana Stores, like the Legend Saravana store, Saravana Selvarathinam, which was founded by his father S. Selvarathinam, and the Legend New Saravana store. He has stores in T. Nagar and Padi.

Image Credit: Newsminute

Super Saravana Stores, which function in T. Nagar, Purusawalkam, Chrompet, and Porur, were not mentioned under his ownership.

Image Credit: Super Saravana Stores

We then looked up his name in the Madras High Court documents filed with his name to confirm those claims, and it was only associated with documents relating to a private company named Saravana Stores Private Limited and Saravana Stores Water.

Image Credit: IndianKannon

We also looked up court documents related to Super Saravana Stores, and we found that the documents listed S. Rajarathinam as the owner of the Chrompet store.

Image Credit: IndianKanoon

Other websites that list company details and statistics have also mentioned him as the owner and his son R. Sabapathy as the Director of the Super Saravana Stores. R. Sabapathy has also applied for the trademark of Super Store Saravana Stores as the proprietor.

The founder of the Saravana Stores was the late Shanmuga Sundaram Nadar, and his sons, S. Yogarathinam Nadar, S. Rajarathinam Nadar, and S. Selvarathinam Nadar were co-founders. They then founded multiple subsidiaries, which were then passed on to be managed by their sons. Because of this detail, a huge part of the claim is false.

No Communal Tension In Area

We also asked locals residing there about communal tension in the Chrompet area, and if they had heard of any such threats by a specific religious community, and they had not. The locals claim that Chrompet has residents of all religions, and no such incident of communal tension has come up, even if stores do have religious idols.

We also looked up media reports of religion-based violence or tension in the Chrompet region and came up with nothing. We also checked if there were media reports of any of the Saravana Stores, in any area, where this incident might have taken place, but there were none.

The Logical Indian verified the viral claim and found it to be false. Arul Saravanan is not the owner of the Super Saravana store in Chrompet, and no incident involving a religious group threatening him to remove an idol of a Hindu God has taken place.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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