- By Aditya Jha
- Sun, 28 Sep 2025 01:18 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Tamil Nadu Stampede: The Tamil Nadu police booked two senior leaders of actor-turned-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Sunday following a stampede in Karur that killed at least 39 and left others injured. The police booked N Anand and CT Nirmal Kumar, along with the district secretary of the party and three others, for the unfortunate incident. The accused have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, acts of rash conduct endangering human life, and disobedience to an order issued by a public servant. The state police have also charged the accused under the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act.
Tamil Nadu DGP in-charge G Venkatraman on Sunday stated that several guidelines were violated during the event, adding that the crowd swelled due to the late arrival of Vijay. Venkatraman further stated that the youth and women remained hungry for several hours, leading to the panic. He asserted that the crowd emerged significantly more than expected, and more officials could not be deployed due to the less space at the site.
"Permission (for the meeting) was sought for between 3 pm-10 pm. The TVK Twitter account said he will come at 12 and crowd started coming in from 11 AM. He came at 7.40 PM. The people lacked sufficient food water under the hot sun," Venkatraman was quoted as saying by PTI. "Our intention is not to blame anyone, but we are just stating the facts," the Head of Police Force added.
While expressing his grief over the incident, Vijay announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 20 Lakhs for the family members of the deceased and Rs 2 Lakhs for the injured. Apart from this, several other politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, also paid their condolences.