A bomb threat on the Neelankarai home of actor-turned-politician and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president Vijay scared the city for a short while on Wednesday before the police said it was a hoax.
Police and bomb disposal teams raced to the location right away. But a thorough search of the site showed that there was no explosive device there.
Threat Aftermath of Karur Stampede
The warning came after Vijay faced more and more criticism from the public and politicians after the fatal stampede at a TVK rally in Karur on September 27.
Casualties: The rush killed 41 individuals and hurt at least 60 others.
Criticism of the Police: The police said that 27,000 people came to the event, which was almost three times the 10,000 they had expected. Authorities also said that the situation got worse because Vijay was seven hours late getting to the location.
TVK Asks the Supreme Court for an Independent Investigation
TVK took the Karur catastrophe case to the Supreme Court on the same day that the fake threat was made.
The Challenge: The party is fighting the Madras High Court’s decision to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the stampede.
TVK’s Argument: The request, which was filed through TVK’s secretary Aadhav Arjuna, asks for an independent probe to be done with the Supreme Court’s help. TVK says that if just Tamil Nadu police officials were in charge of the investigation, it wouldn’t be fair or unbiased.
Supreme Court Listing: On Friday, a bench made up of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran decided to hear the case.
Government Payment Announced
At the same time, Senthil Balaji, the DMK leader who represents the Karur seat, gave compensation checks from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to the families of 45 individuals who were hurt in the stampede. The Tamil Nadu government had already said that the relatives of the dead victims would get ₹10 lakh each and the families of the injured victims would get ₹1 lakh each.