Karur stampede: FM Sitharaman meets families of victims; NDA team to probe incident

The death toll from the stampede at Tamil Nadu Vetri Kazhagam leader Vijay's campaign rally in Tamil Nadu's Karur has risen to 41

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, along with union minister L Murugan and Tamil Nadu BJP chief Nainar Nagenthran, on Monday met the families of those who died in the Karur stampede.

The finance minister also termed the incident as “shocking”, while also assuring the families of the deceased all possible assistance.

“Karur incident is shocking. The injured were taken to the hospital. The Prime Minister called me and L Murugan and advised us both to meet all the families who lost their loved ones in the stampede and inquire about the health of those admitted to the hospital,” the finance minister said.

“As per the PM's advice, we came to Karur. The collector showed the stampede spot. We met some of the family members of those who lost their lives. I couldn't even talk or console the family members. Most of them are from poor families,” she added.

She further stated that upon her return, she will brief PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah about her visit to Karur.

The death toll from the stampede at Tamil Nadu Vetri Kazhagam leader Vijay's campaign rally in Tamil Nadu's Karur has risen to 41, as per ANI.

Among the deceased are 18 women, 13 men, five young girls, and five young boys, bringing the total to 41. So far, 34 victims are from the Karur district, two each from the Erode, Tiruppur, and Dindigul districts, and one from the Salem district.

NDA-BJP leaders' delegation to visit Tamil Nadu

An eight-member NDA delegation is set to visit Tamil Nadu’s Karur to look into the circumstances that led to the incident, meet the families of the tragedy and submit a report on the same.

The members of the delegation are Hema Malini, Anurag Thakur, Tejasvi Surya, Braj Lal, Shrikant Shinde, Aprajita Sarangi, Rekha Sharma and Putta Mahesh Kumar.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin has announced a one-member commission of inquiry, headed by former judge Justice Aruna Jagadeesan, to investigate the stampede and submit a report to the government.