"Went To See Actor Vijay, But Lost My Friend": Man Injured In Tamil Nadu Stampede

A man who had gone to TVK chief Vijay's rally in Tamil Nadu's Karur on Saturday because he wanted to catch a glimpse of the actor was among 41 people who were killed in the stampede. His friend, who was with him at the rally, told NDTV the man's family has lost their only son and that he felt, given the size of the crowd, that the location for the gathering was wrong.

The stampede had broken out in Karur after a massive crowd gathered to hear the actor-politician speak. Vijay was supposed to begin his address at noon, but arrived only around 7 pm, by which time the crowd had swelled to nearly 30,000 people.

Giri, who was injured in the stampede, spoke to NDTV from the Karur government hospital on Monday and said he had gone to the rally with his childhood friend because they both wanted to see actor Vijay in person.

"We went to see actor Vijay, but I lost my friend," Giri said.

Recalling the situation at the spot, Giri said there were too many people to count.

"There were too many people. I did not find any shortage of water or anything, but the place was too small... My friend, who wanted to see a celebrity, has died. I knew him since we were children and we went to school on the same bus. He was a nice person and the only son in his family," he said.

Giri reiterated that the rally should have been held in a bigger place.

"For such a huge actor, that location was not big enough. The rally should have been held in an open ground. I don't know what else to say," he said, struggling to keep his emotions in check while showing NDTV images of his friend on Instagram.

In the first information report (FIR) on the stampede, the police noted the delay in Vijay's arrival and said his bus made multiple unscheduled stops, turning his rally into a roadshow for which no permission had been taken.

While the DMK has alleged the TVK deliberately delayed the arrival of the actor-politician to ensure a larger crowd would turn out and the rally would look better on camera, Vijay's party has alleged a 'conspiracy'.

"There was a conspiracy, a criminal conspiracy in the incident at Karur," the party's lawyer, Arivazhagan, told NDTV.