Among the deceased are 18 women, 13 men, five young girls, and five young boys, bringing the total to 41
Chennai: The toll in Saturday’s tragedy at a campaign meeting of the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) at Karur rose to 41 on Monday. The police have not booked any case against the actor, but registered an FIR against three key functionaries of the TVK. According to the police, Vijay had remained inside his campaign vehicle at Velusamypuram, the venue, for an extended period, leading to overcrowding and restlessness among the crowd that had gathered.
The stampede occurred after the crowd surged forward to have a closer glimpse of Vijay, the police said, adding that the narrow venue hardly afforded space for so many people, resulting in trampling. Police resorted to a lathi-charge in a bid to restore order. Many who fainted at the venue were rushed to the Karur government hospital.
An FIR was registered against TVK district secretary for Karur North Mathiazhagan, party's state general secretary Bussy Anand, and TVK deputy general secretary Nirmal Kumar, in connection with the stampede.
The three party functionaries have been 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, along with section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Preventing of Damage and Loss) Act, 1992, a police official said.
In the FIR filed in Namakkal, where Vijay addressed the crowd before driving down to Karur, it is said that TVK leaders did not heed to their warnings about a possible disaster and continued with their dangerous ways.
Meanwhile, a TVK source said Vijay has been asked by the police not to visit the government facility to visit the victims of the September 27 stampede due to the sensitive law and order situation. Vijay, who was reportedly confined to his house in Panayur after returning to Chennai on Saturday night, drove to another of his apartments in Mandaveli and reportedly held a series of discussions with different sets of people, including legal experts and advisers.
The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court, meanwhile, said it will hear the plea of the TVK seeking a probe in the stampede accident on Friday.
Police filed First Information Reports (FIRs) in the Karur and Namakkal Town police stations about the two TVK election rallies held on Saturday in those towns. The report filed in Karur mentioned about TVK supporters not being regulated by the party office-bearers and many of them climbing buildings and trees and perching themselves on the tin sheet awnings of roadside shops and the branches.
An extraordinary situation arose when the awnings gave way and tree branches broke leading to those perched on them plunging into the jam packed crowds below on the roadside, the FIR said, adding that the four hour delay in starting the meeting and lack of drinking water supply and medical facilities at the venue aggravated the situation.
In Karur, of the 110 persons admitted to hospitals, 51 of them were discharged and they returned home, district collector M. Thangavel said. Among the rest of the 59 hospitalised persons, 51 of them were getting treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital and eight others in three private hospitals.
The Chief Minister put out a video message requesting the people not to spread irresponsible and malicious information through social media in this time of grief and mourning and urged the people to ensure that such tragedies did not recur in the state as it was the duty of all to establish rules on how to act responsibly.
Stalin said that the victims, regardless of their political affiliations, were Tamil brethren and added that no political leader would ever wish for their followers and innocent civilians to meet such a tragic death. Such a tragedy had never happened earlier and should never happen again, he said, adding that the scenes he witnessed at the hospital in Karur were fresh in his mind and that he was still in a state of sorrow and grief.
Ms Nirmala Sitaraman told the media at the Karur district collector’s office that Prime Minister Narendra Modi despatched her and her colleague to Karur as he had prefixed engagements. They would convey all that they saw and heard in Karur to Mr Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, she said.
