At least 40 people lost their lives and over 100 were injured in a stampede during actor-politician Vijay’s rally in Karur on Saturday, as authorities and political leaders scrambled to respond to the tragedy.
The bodies of the victims were handed over to families on Sunday after post-mortems, while three injured remain in critical condition at local hospitals.
FIR and Blame Game
The Karur Town Police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against TVK’s Karur (North) district secretary Madhiazhagan, general secretary Bussy Anand, and joint general secretary CTR Nirmal Kumar, under sections 105 (culpable homicide), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), and 125 (endangering life of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
According to Additional Director General of Police Davidson Devasirvatham, Vijay arrived three hours late after completing a rally in Namakkal. Police had 500 personnel on duty and asked organisers to park the campaign bus at least 50 metres away from the designated spot. However, the party insisted on its planned position, and Vijay did not exit the vehicle for 10 minutes, leaving the crowd restless.
The expected attendance of 10,000 swelled to around 25,000, and the TVK reportedly failed to make arrangements such as drinking water or follow the conditions laid out by police.
Calls for Investigation
TVK counsel S Arivazhagan alleged a political conspiracy and demanded a court-monitored probe or an investigation by an independent agency, accusing the Tamil Nadu government and police of hurried post-mortems without properly identifying bodies.
Meanwhile, injured attendee N Senthilkannan filed a petition seeking to bar TVK from holding rallies until inquiries into the stampede are complete.
Political Reactions
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin visited the victims’ families, expressing shock at the scale of the tragedy. He announced ₹10 lakh ex-gratia for the next of kin and ₹1 lakh for each injured person. CM Stalin also appointed Justice Aruna Jagadeesan to lead the investigation.
Stalin said, “Once the truth is revealed, strict action will definitely be taken,” without commenting on the potential arrest of Vijay.
Karnataka BJP MLC Chalavadi Narayanaswamy criticized both the state government and Vijay for crowd management failures. Congress leader Supriya Shrinate called the leaders responsible but emphasized supporting the families at this tragic time.