Actor Vijay's Close Aide Named In Police Case After Stampede Kills 40

Two top leaders of actor-politician Vijay's TVK, including his close aide N Anand, have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder after a stampede at a rally in Karur yesterday left 40 people dead and nearly a 100 injured.

N Anand, TVK's general secretary and a former MLA from Puducherry, is popularly known as Bussy Anand because he represented the Bussy seat in the Puducherry Assembly. He is effectively the Number 2 in the party.

Besides N Anand, TVK joint general secretary CT Nirmal Kumar, the party's Karur West district secretary Mathiyazhagan and 3 others have been named in the police case.

The accused have been charged under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, acts of rash/negligent conduct endangering human life and disobedience to an order issued by a public servant. They have also been charged under the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act.

The DMK-led state government has slammed the actor-politician and alleged that safety guidelines were violated at his rally, leading to the tragedy. Sources in the state government have said the organisers did not make proper arrangements for drinking water and food. This led to people in the crowd fainting.

Vijay, the sources said, reached the venue about 7 hours late. Men, women and children had started gathering at the venue since noon, but the actor arrived after 7 pm. And a crowd accompanied him into the already-cramped location.

Government sources said supporters violated police guidelines and followed his vehicle to approach the state

Even while Vijay was speaking, some people collapsed, but the speech continued and ambulances were not allowed into the venue, the sources have said. The sources said Vijay left for Trichy airport after the rally and flew to Chennai by a private flight.

An advocate for TVK has stressed that the party followed all police guidelines at the rally. He said the tragedy has hit Vijay hard and that he loves the people of Tamil Nadu.