Chennai: Days after a rally led by him in Tamil Nadu’s Karur witnessed 41 stampede deaths, actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) founder Vijay on Tuesday said he hasn’t visited the affected persons so far as his presence there would lead to an “unusual situation.”
The top actor said he has never faced such a “painful situation” in his life. He challenged Chief Minister M K Stalin to “do anything to him,” but not his party colleagues.
Will meet you (families of victims, injured) soon: Vijay
“I didn’t visit Karur as it would lead to an unusual situation. I will meet you (families of victims, the injured) soon,” he said in a video message posted on his social media page.
Vijay said the truth about the fatal incident will come out soon, and hinted he was ready to face action.
“You may do anything to me,” he said, even as his party colleagues including senior leaders Bussy N Anand and CTR Nirmal Kumar are police facing case in connection with the September 27 stampede in Tamil Nadu’s western Karur district, about 400 km from state capital Chennai.
Seeking to take on the ruling DMK over the matter, he said “CM sir, if you have a thought of seeking vengeance, you may do anything to me and not touch the party men.”
On the day of the incident, he left Karur hastily, considering people’s safety, he claimed.
Two TVK functionaries sent to judicial custody
Two office bearers of the TVK were on Tuesday, Septmber 30, were sentenced to 14 days’ judicial custody in connection with the stampede.
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s Karur West District Secretary V P Mathiyalagan and Karur Central District Secretary Kasi Pounraj were named in the First Information Report (FIR) and remanded to judicial custody, police said.
TVK state general secretary Bussy Anand and deputy general secretary Nirmal Kumar are also named in the FIR but are yet to be arrested, the they added.
The accused have been booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Section 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), Section 125 (endangering life of others), and Section 223 (disobedience to order).
The Tamil Nadu government has constituted a one-member commission headed by retired judge Aruna Jagadeesan to probe the alleged stampede that occurred during the TVK chief’s rally in Karur on September 27.
(With excerpts from PTI)
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