Superstar actor-politician Vijay was on Monday questioned again for nearly six hours by the CBI for the stampede at his September rally in Tamil Nadu that claimed 41 lives, officials said.
The stampede in Karur occurred on September 27 last year at a massive political rally addressed by Vijay, marking one of the deadliest crowd disasters in Tamil Nadu's recent political history.
The Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) chief was earlier questioned for six hours at the CBI headquarters on January 12 in Delhi. He was asked to come again on January 13, but he sought another date due to Pongal.
At the time of the tragedy, the Tamil Nadu Police had blamed Vijay's alleged inordinate delay in arriving at the venue for triggering the chaos, stating that the prolonged wait led to a surging and uncontrollable crowd.
Police officials had also cited a lack of adequate food, drinking water, and toilet facilities, saying the weary crowd eventually turned unruly.
Vijay, however, denied the allegations, calling them a "conspiracy" by the ruling DMK, a charge the party has rejected. He countered by blaming the police for poor crowd management and for failing to clear bottlenecks on approach roads to the venue.
It was Vijay's party, the TVK, which had sought a CBI probe into the tragedy.
The CBI took over the investigation from the Tamil Nadu Police in October last year following a Supreme Court order.
One of the key issues under scrutiny is the "7-hour" discrepancy: Investigators are probing a massive delay between the scheduled start of the event and Vijay's actual arrival. They are examining whether this wait caused the crowd to swell from an expected 10,000 to over 30,000, leading to a complete loss of control.
The agency is further probing the timing of Vijay's awareness of the stampede and the sequence of events that followed. Questions about the exact times of his arrival and departure from the venue are also part of the ongoing inquiry.
Additionally, inquiries are underway at the Karur CBI office with nine police personnel who were on security duty during the Karur stampede.
During Round 2, Vijay, whose TVK is making its electoral debut in the 2026 Tamil Nadu polls, was questioned by a team of officials led by a deputy superintendent rank officer drawn from the agency's anti-corruption wing, the officials said.
During the first round of questioning last week, Vijay was given a booklet containing over 90 questions.
Sources said Vijay maintained that neither he nor his party was responsible for the stampede.
He reportedly stated that lax arrangements by the police and district administration may have contributed to the incident.
Vijay also denied allegations that he hurriedly left the venue after the stampede.
On Monday, he was questioned again on his reported seven-hour delay in arriving at the venue.
Several questions related to decision-making about the rally, reasons for his delay, continuation of the speech, his knowledge about the ongoing chaos, turnout and mismanagement of the crowd were put forth to him, officials said.
The CBI re-examined Vijay's statement to check for contradictions, as similar answers were given earlier by TVK leaders.
TVK joint general secretary CT Nirmal Kumar said the party was cooperating with the probe.
"Lots of rumours are being spread around which are not true. We all know what happened in Karur. MPs from Delhi had gone to Karur; even the Tamil Nadu BJP president has said what exactly happened in Karur," Nirmal Kumar said.
"We are cooperating with the investigating agencies. Please refrain from spreading any misinformation. He (Vijay) has not been called again," Kumar added.
The CBI has so far questioned TVK leaders Aadhav Arjuna, Bussy Anand, CT Nirmal Kumar, Mathiyalagan, and Vijay's driver.
