The CBI’s probe into the Karur stampede intensifies as actor Vijay is summoned once more to its Delhi office on Monday. The TVK founder, fresh from a six-hour interrogation on January 12, faces renewed scrutiny over the rally mishap that resulted in 41 fatalities during his political outreach last year.
On September 27 in Tamil Nadu’s Karur, excitement for Vijay’s campaign speech swelled into tragedy. A stampede amid the surging crowd exposed critical failures in planning and safety protocols, leaving the state in mourning and sparking nationwide debates on event security.
A supervisory panel chaired by former Supreme Court Justice Ajay Rastogi oversees the investigation, pushing the CBI to expedite inquiries. Agency sleuths have grilled senior party functionaries—Bussy Anand, Adhav Arjun, Nirmal Kumar, and Mathiyazhagan—to reconstruct the lead-up to the chaos: event logistics, crowd estimates, and contingency plans.
Central to the case is Vijay’s late arrival, which allegedly intensified the bottleneck at the venue. In response, he provided Rs 20 lakh ex-gratia to bereaved families and connected personally via video. However, investigators probe deeper into systemic lapses that turned celebration into catastrophe.
Beyond immediate accountability, this inquiry could catalyze comprehensive reforms in managing high-profile political events. As Vijay complies with the summons, the focus remains on delivering justice to victims and preventing future oversights in crowd-heavy spectacles.