The Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear a petition challenging the dismissal of a request for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Karur stampede that occurred during a rally by actor-politician Vijay. The case is scheduled for a hearing on Friday, October 10, as reported by the news agency ANI.
The Madras High Court previously dismissed the plea filed by BJP Chennai West Mambalam councillor Uma Anandhan, which sought an urgent investigation into the incident resulting in 41 fatalities during Vijay’s TVK roadshow. The bench, consisting of Justices P Velmurugan and G Arul Murugan, stated that since the incident took place in Karur district, the matter falls under the jurisdiction of the Madurai bench of the High Court.
Anandhan argued that the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) had pre-determined the outcome of the incident without conducting a fair investigation, suggesting that an impartial probe by the state police is impossible. Her counsel, MR Venkatesh, emphasized that 41 deaths and numerous injuries were a failure of governmental duty to ensure safety, asserting that the circumstances warrant a CBI investigation due to their extraordinary nature.
A fact-finding team from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which visited Karur to assess the events surrounding the stampede, described the tragedy as “completely preventable,” citing gross negligence and administrative failure. The panel, including BJP MPs Hema Malini, Anurag Thakur, and Tejasvi Surya, noted that over 30,000 attendees were present at the venue meant to accommodate only 2,000 to 3,000.
Witness testimonies revealed that attendees had been waiting in extreme weather conditions since the morning of September 27. Chaos ensued when Vijay, upon arriving in the evening, addressed the crowd from atop a bus, resulting in a stampede in which individuals, including children, were trampled and many fainted.
