Who Is Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Set To Probe Actor Vijay's Rally Stampede

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has appointed a commission headed by Justice Aruna Jagadeesan (retired) to investigate the deadly stampede incident at actor-politician Vijay's rally in Karur on Saturday. 

A retired judge of the Madras High Court, Justice Jagadeesan has led many high-profile Commissions of Inquiry in Tamil Nadu.

She served as a puisne judge at the Madras High Court from 2009 until her retirement in 2015.

She probed the violence that broke out following anti-Sterlite protests in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin in 2018. 13 people were killed in police firing against a massive crowd of protesters opposing the Sterlite Copper smelting plant. Her commission recommended action against 17 police officials, including IPS officers. 

She was also part of a bench that gave a clean chit to the Chennai Police in February 2015, for alleged fake encounters in Velachery that killed five men suspected of bank robbery.

Justice Jagadeesan also probed cases pertaining to the wealth of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister late J Jayalalithaa and her associates.

Stampede At Actor Vijay's Rally

At least 39 people were killed and nearly 100 others injured in a stampede at a political rally held by Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Karur.

Tamil Nadu's Director General of Police G Venkataraman said the organisers put the expected number at 10,000, but about 27,000 people turned up. 

In a late-night press conference, he said that 500 personnel were deployed for the rally.

"Earlier rallies of TVK had smaller crowds, but this time the turnout was far higher than expected," Mr Venkataraman said.

He said that there was a crowd surge after the TVK party announced on its official X (formerly Twitter) handle that 51-year-old Vijay would arrive at the meeting venue by 12 noon. The permission for the rally, however, was sought between 3 pm-10 pm, he said.

"The permission was sought between 3 pm-10 pm. The TVK Twitter account said he would come at 12, and the crowd started coming in from 11 AM. He came at 7.40 PM. The people lacked sufficient food and water under the hot sun," he said, adding it was "too early to say what exactly triggered the stampede."

Videos from the venue showed thousands of people surrounding a large campaign vehicle on top of which Vijay was seen standing and speaking.

Visuals also showed Vijay throwing water bottles from the top of the vehicle to fainting supporters and calling for police help when the crowd became uncontrollable.