Tamil Nadu stampede: High Court forms SIT, denies pre-arrest bail to TVK leaders

The Madras High Court on Friday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the September 27 stampede at the political rally of actor and TVK founder Vijay, on a day when two senior party leaders’ anticipatory bail petitions were rejected by the High Court which also found fault with the party and the police over the incident that killed 41 persons and injured over 60.

The principal bench of the HC here also dismissed a BJP leader’s plea seeking a CBI probe into the incident, and directed her to approach the Madurai bench.

Chief Minister M K Stalin and the ruling DMK trained their guns against the BJP and Vijay, respectively. While Stalin accused BJP of trying to gain political mileage over the deadly incident, his party DMK slammed Vijay for his alleged “arrogance, hunger for money, publicity mania and the desire for chair.”

It said his challenge to the state government to arrest him for the stampede was aimed at diverting attention away from the deaths of as many as 41 persons.

The HC formed the SIT under senior IPS officer and Inspector General, North Zone, Asra Garg, to probe the matter. It also criticised the TVK organisers of the event, the party leadership and the police over the stampede, which killed children, among others.

The Madurai bench dismissed the anticipatory bail pleas of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) state general secretary Bussy N Anand and deputy general secretary CTR Nirmal Kumar, who have been named in the FIR in connection with the incident.

The TVK functionaries, besides a local leader of the party who has since been arrested, were booked under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 125 (endangering life of others), and 223 (disobedience to order), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Their plea for relief came up for hearing before Justice M Jothiraman.

Meanwhile, a single judge bench of the HC on Friday dismissed the anticipatory bail petition of a TVK functionary from Namakkal in connection with an attack on a private hospital in that town during actor Vijay’s public meeting there.

TVK’s Namakkal (western TN) district secretary Sathish Kumar, fearing arrest, had moved the court.

Political faceoff over the September 27 incident continued.

Chief Minister Stalin accused the BJP and the government led by it at the Centre, of “showing no genuine concern” over the tragic stampede, and said the saffron party wanted to “capitalise” on the incident in view of next year’s Assembly election.

He sought to know why a delegation of NDA MPs was sent to Karur so urgently to look into the cause of the stampede. Teams were not sent to inquire about the Manipur riots, Morbi bridge accident in Gujarat, and the Kumbh Mela stampede in Uttar Pradesh, he said.

“Of course, there’s no interest or concern. It is a petty act of seeking political gain in view of the 2026 Assembly election,” Stalin said at a government event in Ramanathapuram.

He alleged that the BJP, “which is used to riding on the back of others, is a parasite that survives on the blood of others.” “It is using the Karur stampede to find out who it can bring under its control. Irrespective of the masks that are worn, how many slaves that are conscripted, or who is enlisted afresh, as I said earlier, Tamil Nadu is out of control for you,” Stalin, who is president of the DMK, said.

When Tamil Nadu was struck by three major natural disasters, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman neither visited nor provided any funds to the state. “But she now immediately rushes to Karur,” he said.

The ruling DMK slammed TVK chief Vijay.

It said Vijay’s acting skills, which “failed” long ago in the field of cinema, will not succeed in real life as well.

In its editorial slamming Vijay, the DMK organ ‘Murasoli’ said, “the video released by Vijay shows that his arrogance, which is responsible for the killing of 41 persons, and the haughtiness which arose from his hunger for money, publicity mania and the desire for chair has not subsided yet”.

After the stampede, in his video message on September 30, 2025, Vijay said the government may do “anything to him,” for the stampede but should spare his party men.

Against this background, the DMK organ said that Vijay was pressured to announce Rs 20 lakh solatium to the families of victims as the CM disbursed Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of those killed.

“Otherwise, Vijay would not have announced it. In case if the CM had announced Rs 1 lakh solatium, Vijay would have announced only Rs 2 lakh as solatium. His fans know this pretty well.”  The government has already disbursed the solatium to the families of those who died in the stampede. However, Vijay has not given the assured money to the kin of those who died in the stampede.

“Vijay is issuing a challenge, asking the government to arrest him as he was angered that his money was going to be spent on solatium to the families of the victims. By mounting a challenge to arrest him, he is trying to divert the issue of the deaths of 41 persons.”  Alleging that TVK’s second rung leaders have gone into “hiding”, the ruling party questioned Vijay for reaching the designated campaign spots many hours late. People fainted due to exhaustion in all the places after waiting for hours together, Murasoli alleged.