The death toll from the stampede at Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief and actor Vijay’s political rally in Karur has risen to 41 after 65-year-old Suguna succumbed to her injuries on Sunday night, marking Tamil Nadu’s deadliest political rally tragedy.
The disaster occurred on Saturday evening when an estimated 27,000 supporters gathered at a venue designed for 10,000, with the stampede triggered by Vijay’s seven-hour delayed arrival and subsequent crowd surge.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will visit Karur today (Monday) on Prime Minister Modi’s directive to meet victims’ families, whilst the Madras High Court is set to hear both TVK’s plea for an independent CBI probe and a victim’s petition to ban future rallies. Police have filed FIRs against three TVK leaders for culpable homicide, but notably excluded Vijay himself from the charges.
Critical Timeline of Events Reveals Systemic Failures
The tragedy unfolded when Vijay, scheduled to arrive at noon, only reached the venue at 7:40 PM after completing another rally in Namakkal. Tamil Nadu DGP G Venkataraman revealed that crowds had been waiting since 7 AM without adequate food, water, or medical facilities under harsh conditions. Among the 41 victims are 18 women, 13 men, five young girls, and five young boys, with two-year-old Dhuru Vishnu becoming the youngest casualty.
The FIR states that when Vijay’s vehicle entered the venue, “large numbers of cadres followed his vehicle, merged with the crowd already present, leading to a sudden surge” that caused people to climb unstable steel sheds and trees, which collapsed into the dense crowd below. Disturbingly, some TVK members reportedly quarrelled with ambulance drivers and snatched ambulance keys, delaying critical medical assistance.
Hours after the stampede at his rally that claimed at least 38 lives, actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) President Vijay said his heart is “shattered” and he is “writhing” in pain.
CM MK Stalin’s Statements and Compensation Announcements
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin condemned the Karur stampede as an unprecedented tragedy in the state’s political history and expressed his deep sorrow to the families of the 41 victims. He announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased and Rs 1 lakh for those injured.
Stalin visited the Karur hospital overnight to console the survivors and families personally. He declared that a judicial inquiry led by retired High Court judge Justice Aruna Jagadeesan would be instituted, emphasising that any political action would be based on the inquiry’s findings, distancing politics from the tragedy.
Legal Battle Intensifies as Court Hearings Begin Today
The Madras High Court’s Madurai bench will hear TVK’s plea today at 2:15 PM seeking either a CBI or Special Investigation Team probe into what the party alleges is a conspiracy behind the tragedy. Simultaneously, stampede victim Senthilkannan has petitioned the court to restrain authorities from granting permission for any future TVK rallies until the inquiry concludes and safety protocols are established.
The victim’s petition argues that “the tragedy was not a mere accident but the direct result of reckless planning, gross mismanagement, and complete disregard for the safety of the public”.
Meanwhile, Vijay remains conspicuously absent from the police FIR, with only three second-tier TVK leaders booked under serious charges including culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Sources indicate the DMK government is “treading carefully” around the popular actor-politician, reflecting the complex political calculations involved.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
This preventable tragedy exposes the dangerous intersection of celebrity worship and political ambition in India, where crowd management becomes secondary to spectacle and electoral calculations influence justice. The loss of 41 innocent lives, including 10 children, represents not just organisational failure but a systematic disregard for human dignity in pursuit of political theatre.
