NEW DELHI: The investigation into the tragic Karur stampede, which resulted in the loss of forty-one lives at a political rally led by actor-politician Vijay, will now be conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Supreme Court delivered this pivotal order on Monday, transferring the probe away from the state-mandated Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The bench, comprising Justices J.K. Maheshwari and N.V. Anjaria, went a step further to ensure the transparency and impartiality of the investigation. It directed the immediate formation of a three-member committee that will be headed by former Supreme Court Judge Justice Ajay Rastogi to continuously monitor the CBI’s progress.
TVK Challenged SIT; SC Raised Concerns Over Procedure
The decision comes in response to a plea filed by Vijay’s political party, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which had challenged the Madras High Court’s earlier order to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprised of state police officers to look into the tragedy.
During the final hearing on Friday, the Supreme Court had already expressed sharp reservations about the process followed by the Madras High Court in setting up the SIT. Justice Maheshwari pointed to a procedural inconsistency, questioning how the single judge bench in Chennai took up the matter when the case’s jurisdiction for the Karur incident rightfully lay with the Madurai division bench, which was already seized of related issues.
“We are unable to understand how this order was passed? How did the single bench in the Chennai Bench proceed with the matter when the division bench in Madurai was considering the matter? In my experience of over 15 years as a judge, a single bench holds back if the division bench has taken cognisance,” Justice Maheshwari observed during the proceedings.
The Tamil Nadu government, for its part, argued that the formation of the SIT was entirely the High Court’s prerogative, not the state’s. The government’s counsel stressed that the officers appointed to the state-led probe team were reputable and independent, suggesting there was no valid reason to doubt their integrity. Despite this, the Supreme Court proceeded with the transfer, seemingly prioritizing an external and non-state agency for the high-profile case.
The Day of the Tragedy and The Charges Filed
The fatal stampede occurred on September 27 during a public rally organized by the TVK in Karur. It quickly became evident that the primary factors contributing to the tragedy were a massive, uncontrolled crowd and severe lapses in event management.
Though the TVK had reportedly requested permission for an estimated 10,000 attendees, the crowd on the day swelled to approximately 25,000 people. Police reports indicated that the party not only failed to provide basic necessities like drinking water but also violated crucial conditions that were specified when official permission was granted for the event.
Following the incident, an First Information Report (FIR) was registered at the Karur town police station. Several TVK functionaries, including the party’s Karur (north) district secretary Madhiazhagan, general secretary Bussy Anand, and joint general secretary CTR Nirmal Kumar, have been named in the FIR. They face serious charges under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including 105 (culpable homicide), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), and 125 (endangering life of others).
The CBI’s mandate will now be to conduct a comprehensive and independent investigation into all aspects of the stampede, aiming to determine the precise causes and assign accountability for the forty-one deaths.