KarurSeptember 28, 2025 10:39 AM IST
First published on: Sep 28, 2025 at 10:31 AM IST
The anger is raw in Karur. What should have been a triumphant campaign stop for superstar-turned-politician Vijay in this historical town in western Tamil Nadu ended in chaos after a cascade of mistakes: his van window kept shut, hundreds of fans chasing his convoy from the nearby city of Namakkal, wrong announcements from his organisers, and a tree branch collapsing on a restless crowd. Within 10 minutes, panic turned into a stampede.
Now, with the toll at 39, the town in mourning, and an inquiry ordered, the big question is what will happen to Vijay, who left for Chennai after the tragedy. Chief Minister M K Stalin flew to Karur in the night, meeting families and promising Rs 10 lakh compensation before returning to Chennai on Sunday morning. The toll, meanwhile, has risen to 39, including 10 children and 17 women. Officials said the autopsy of 30 victims had been completed and the bodies had been handed over to their families.
According to multiple sources, including eyewitnesses, police officers, and Vijay’s close aides, after Vijay’s Namakkal rally ended at 3.30 pm, hundreds of followers started chasing his convoy. A top source who was part of Vijay’s convoy said a black, sliding window of the campaign vehicle had been closed to avoid the public eye and stop people from following the bus. But it had the opposite effect, causing more and more people to follow the superstar as they couldn’t catch a glimpse of his face.
“There were strict instructions not to follow his vehicle from one place to another, as Karur already had an overwhelming crowd. The people there were waiting for him from the morning, even though he arrived late at around 7 pm. When the huge crowd followed his vehicle also joined the Karur crowd, it went beyond all control. There was an absolute lack of management,” said the source, who is closely associated with Vijay’s outstation campaigns.
The stampede occurred soon after Vijay began his speech in Karur. According to multiple sources, it all unfolded within 10 minutes. Over a dozen people who sat on a tree branch collapsed on a crowd, worsening the situation further. “It was one of the reasons that made it this deadly,” said a senior police officer who visited the spot soon after the tragedy.
In some videos, people were seen screaming for help as they climbed on top of one another to breathe. Some children sat on the shoulders of adults, likely their parents, as they watched Vijay’s bus approach from a distance, minutes away from the tragedy. As the crowd swelled and people started getting suffocated because of the heat and overcrowding, Vijay stopped his speech and started throwing bottles of water at the crowd to help, videos showed. But amid the screaming and panic calls, Vijay resumed his speech, failing to gauge the seriousness of the situation.
DGP G Venkataraman said Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) had sought permission for the Karur event, saying they expected 10,000 people, and considering their past rallies, around 500 police personnel were deployed. Though permission was sought for the 3 pm-10 pm time slot, TVK members announced Vijay would arrive at noon and the crowd started to build from 10 am itself. Vijay arrived only around 7.10 pm.
“The farmer’s market and the Lighthouse Roundabout, which the TVK had requested, were narrower compared to the allotted Veluchamipuram grounds,” said the DGP. When Vijay began speaking, he even thanked the police for making excellent security arrangements.
What has deepened the fury of people in the town is the perception that Vijay fled. He left Karur soon after the stampede, caught a flight to Chennai from Trichy, and was at his beachside residence in the capital past midnight. He did not speak to the media and actively evaded cameras. By then, he had already been briefed on the scale of the casualties, according to sources.
Stalin, who met grieving families in Karur, was asked bluntly if Vijay would be arrested. He told reporters in the early hours that he would not answer “questions with political motives”. Action, he said, would follow the findings of the Aruna Jagadeesan Committee, a one-member inquiry appointed within hours of the stampede.
A top officer said the government had not considered the option of arresting Vijay. “Unlike late J Jayalalithaa, Stalin will think 100 times before making such a move and its impact. While there are opinions that the arrest will help him gain sympathy, a section believes that waiting till Monday for the court to take suo moto action might lead to his arrest as well, instead of a hurried move on Sunday,” the officer said.