'Leader vanished from scene, showed no remorse': Madras HC slams Vijay, orders SIT into Karur stampede

Vijay's Karur political rally took lives of over 40 people

The Madras High Court has come down heavily on actor-politician Vijay and his party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), over the Karur rally tragedy that left 41 people dead. During a hearing, Justice N Senthilkumar observed that Vijay and senior TVK leaders who organised the event fled the scene of the stampede and showed “no remorse” afterwards.

The court ordered the seizure of Vijay’s campaign bus after CCTV footage and video clips showed it being involved in a hit-and-run-like incident during the rally. Police have also been directed to collect all surveillance footage from inside and outside the vehicle.

To further probe the incident, the court constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Inspector General of Police Asra Garg, directing the state government to extend full cooperation. Expressing dissatisfaction with the Karur district police, the judge said it was troubling that Vijay was not named in any of the FIRs despite being the central figure at the rally.

“As a human being, I condole the deaths; as a judge, it is agonising to witness so many lives lost,” Justice Senthilkumar said. “What action have you taken? You allowed this to happen, and now you say only two have been arrested. Who is responsible? The leader, Vijay, disappeared – vanished – and there was no one left to help the people.”

So far, two senior TVK leaders, Vijay’s aide N “Bussy” Anand and CT Nirmal Kumar, have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Their anticipatory bail pleas were dismissed by the Madurai bench of the court, which said the investigation was still in its early stages.

According to a Hindustan Times report, pleas to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were turned down, with the judge saying one of the petitions was politically motivated and another was not maintainable.

The court stressed that safeguarding lives must remain the state’s highest priority, particularly at public gatherings.