Did nothing wrong: Vijay on stampede
   Date :01-Oct-2025

Vijay on stampede
 (Right ) A BJP delegation led by MP and actor Hema Malini interacts with officials during a visit to inspect the TVK rally stampede spot, in Karur district, Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday. (PTI)
 
CHENNAI :
 
Didn’t visit Karur since it would lead to an ‘unusual’ situation, says actor Vijay
 
2 TVK functionaries sent to 14-day MCR 
 
 
DAYS after a rally led by him in Tamil Nadu’s Karur witnessed 41 stampede deaths, TVK founder, actor Vijay on Tuesday said he hasn’t visited the affected persons so far as his presence there would lead to an “unusual situation.” Challenging Chief Minister M K Stalin, Vijay said the CM could “do anything to him,” but not his party colleagues. He insisted he did nothing wrong and that the truth behind the fatal incident would come out. The top actor said he has never faced such a “painful situation” in his life. “I didn’t visit Karur as it would lead to an unusual situation. I will meet you (families of victims, the injured) soon,” he said in a video message posted on his social media page. His response came following criticism from various quarters for not visiting Karur and meet the victims’ families and the injured. Vijay said the truth about the fatal incident will come out soon, and hinted he was ready to face action.
 
“You may do anything to me,” he said, even as his party colleagues including senior leaders Bussy N Anand and CTR Nirmal Kumar are police facing case in connection with the September 27 stampede in Tamil Nadu’s western Karur district, about 400 km from State capital Chennai. Seeking to take on the ruling DMK over the matter, he said “CM sir, if you have a thought of seeking vengeance, you may do anything to me and not touch the party men.” On the day of the incident, he had left Karur hastily, considering people’s safety, he claimed. Vijay insisted he did nothing wrong. Two TVK functionaries sent to 14-day judicial custody in Karur stampede case: TWO office bearers of the TVK were on Tuesday sentenced to 14 days’ judicial custody in connection with the stampede during a party rally here that killed 41 people and injured nearly 60 on September 27, police said.
 
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s Karur West District Secretary V P Mathiyalagan and Karur Central District Secretary Kasi Pounraj were named in the First Information Report (FIR) and remanded to judicial custody, they said. TVK State general secretary Bussy Anand and deputy general secretary Nirmal Kumar are also named in the FIR but are yet to be arrested, the police added. The accused have been booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Section 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), Section 125 (endangering life of others), and Section 223 (disobedience to order). The Tamil Nadu Government has constituted a one-member commission headed by retired judge Aruna Jagadeesan to probe the alleged stampede that occurred during the TVK chief’s rally in Karur on September 27.
 
TN releases videos of violation at rally
 
 
CHENNAI, Sept 30 (PTI)
THE Tamil Nadu Government on Tuesday released video clippings showing violation of norms at the rally of Vijay in Karur and said the estimated crowd that attended had more than doubled, thus causing a lot of hardships. Supporting the Government’s stand through a series of videos and photographs, a team led by the official spokesperson and senior IAS officer P Amutha, Health Secretary Senthil Kumar, ADGP Law and Order S Davidson Devasirvatham while briefing reporters at the Secretariat released video clippings showing violation of the norms by TVK cadres who are seen climbing on the roof at Namakkal and Karur.
Congress delegation meets families of Karur stampede victims, terms tragedy ‘beyond imagination’

KARUR, Sept 30 (PTI)
CONGRESS General Secretary K C Venugopal, along with senior party leaders, on Tuesday visited families of those who lost their lives in a stampede during an election rally of the actor-politician Vijay led TVK, and described the incident as “beyond imagination.”
Venugopal was accompanied by All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Tamil Nadu Girish Chodankar, Deputy Leader of the Congress Legislative Party, Tamil Nadu Advocate Rajesh Kumar, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President K Selvaperunthagai, and Karur MP Jothimani.
After meeting the bereaved families and the injured, Venugopal said, “The tragedy in Karur is beyond imagination. The families who have lost their loved ones are inconsolable.”
 
In a social media post, Venugopal shared images of the delegation’s visit and said, “Visited Karur along with Girish Chodankar, Selvaperunthagai, Rajesh Kumar, and Jothimani, other MPs and senior Congress leaders, to send the message to the victims that you are not alone—the whole country is with you in this difficult time.”
The stampede at a TVK rally in Karur on September 27 claimed 41 lives and injured over 60 others.
Speaking to reporters, Chodankar said, “The Congress delegation met the families who have lost their loved ones. They are inconsolable, and their grief is shared by all of Tamil Nadu and India.”
He added, “Our General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal personally distributed immediate relief cheques of Rs 2.5 lakh each to the families of the victims, amounting to a total of Rs 1.25 crore,” in a post on ‘X’.
“To the victims and their families—you are not alone. The entire nation stands with you in this difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Tamil Nadu,” Chodankar said.
 
NDA panel questions choice of venue, to grill State Govt officials
 
KARUR, Sept 30 (PTI)
A PANEL of NDA MPs tasked with looking into the circumstances leading to the September 27 stampede at a TVK rally here on Tuesday questioned the choice of the venue allotted for party chief, actor Vijay’s rally.
Referring to the fatal incident that has so far claimed 41 lives, head of the panel and BJP MP, Hema Malini said that political rallies should be properly organised and conducted with full security. The panel is all set to ask a series of questions to state Government officials over the incident. The administration should have taken care, which they failed to ensure proper conduct of the actor-politician’s rally, Hema Malini said.
On visiting the site of stampede, she said it was very sad as people had fallen into open sewers, above others and died. Also, there had been a sudden power cut and somebody threw chappals, she claimed.
“Such a thing is unheard of, something very different kind of a thing. So who is responsible for all these things,” she asked.
 
Pointing out to deaths including that of children, she asked: “The responsibility is whose? The administration or the organisers? We have to find out, we have to know that.”
Sharing her experience of leading rallies, she said police do not allow halting vehicles during roadshows.
However, in Karur, the vehicle Vijay was travelling in was stopped in a narrow spot. While even 1,000 people cannot stand in such a venue, 10,000 people was the estimated turnout before the event.
Vijay also had the responsibility to ensure that the turnout was in right number and in sync with the available security. Also, it seems TVK had sought some other place but it was not allowed.
Panel member and BJP MP Anurag Thakur said the team would pose questions to officials and organisers.
The truth is common people have lost their lives.
 
A questionnaire has been prepared and this set of questions which would be posed to the officials, he said.
For a free and fair probe, “we feel that a sitting Supreme Court judge must look into this.”
Hema Malini, who led the eight-member NDA delegation, said the local authorities allocating a “narrow venue” for the programme was “inappropriate.”
“There was a power cut during Vijay’s rally. Something appears to be fishy, not natural,” she said.
Had TVK been allotted ‘open space’ for Vijay’s rally, the stampede would not have happened.
Among others, the panel members visited the Karur Government Hospital to inquire about the health condition of those injured in the stampede and undergoing treatment.