Vijay deliberately delayed arrival to show political strength, blames FIR
TIRUCHY/CHENNAI: TVK founder Vijay deliberately delayed his arrival at Karur to show his political strength, as he was told that his supporters had started flocking the spot in large numbers, blamed the first information report registered by the Karur town police, which is investigating the stampede that has so far claimed 41 lives.
It added that TVK leaders, including general secretary N Anand, were warned that the situation was getting out of hand. However, they failed to control the crowd, the FIR said.
“Seeing news on television that Vijay would to reach Karur by 12 noon, people started converging at the spot in large groups from 10 am itself, which resulted in Velusamy Puram main road, Coimbatore road, Muniappan Koil junction, Thirukampuliyur roundabout, and Madurai-Salem bypass coming to a standstill,” it said.
The party’s Karur district secretary Madhiyalagan had sought permission for a gathering of 10,000 people, but there were more than 25,000 people gathered at the spot. Despite the police giving permission for the meeting from 3 pm to 10 pm, Vijay deliberately delayed his arrival by four hours in order to show the surge of cadres for political gain, it alleged.
Vijay then organised a roadshow without permission from Velayuthapalayam bypass and reached the spot at Velusamy Puram at around 7 pm. After reaching there, he was deliberately waiting inside the vehicle, which led to the party functionaries losing patience, and the gathering could not be controlled by the 500 police personnel deployed there, the FIR added.
"Realising that the situation was getting worse, the police cautioned party leaders N Anand, CTR Nirmal Kumar and others, but they failed to control the functionaries,” it said.
Some of the supporters climbed on tree branches, which broke, and the roofs of shops and other buildings that collapsed. They fell onto the people standing below, leading to a flutter. “After waiting for a long time without food or water, the people were dehydrated. The heavy rush suffocated many in the crowd, leading to the death of 11 people on the spot, while several people were rushed to the Karur Government Medical College Hospital,” said the police.
Meanwhile, the cybercrime wing of the Greater Chennai Police on Monday arrested a BJP functionary and two from TVK for allegedly spreading rumours and misinformation on social media about the Karur tragedy.
The arrested persons were identified as Sagayam (38) of Perumbakkam, a BJP functionary, and TVK members Sivanesan (35) of Mangadu and Sarathkumar (32) of Avadi.
The city police said it has booked 25 social media accounts for sharing rumours. "Strict action will be taken against anyone posting or forwarding content that causes fear or disrupts public order," said the official statement.
Police also warned that those sharing or forwarding misleading messages would also face legal consequences.