In the aftermath of the tragic stampede in Karur that left 41 people dead and 110 injured during Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay’s campaign in Veluchamipuram, political and legal tensions continue to escalate.
The Karur City Police registered a case against TVK’s Karur West District Secretary Mathiyazhagan, State General Secretary Anand, Deputy General Secretary Nirmal Kumar, and others, holding them responsible for the deadly crowd surge. The First Information Report (FIR), filed under five sections in the Karur Judicial Magistrate No. 1 Court, cited Vijay’s late arrival as a reason for the overcrowding, which allegedly caused exhaustion and suffocation among attendees.
Special police teams led by Additional SP Prem Anand were formed to track the absconding accused. Mathiyazhagan, who had been evading arrest, was detained by the special team at the residence of a party functionary in Kujiliyambarai, Dindigul district. Police sources stated that he was questioned in detail and that both written and video records of the interrogation were being prepared.
Meanwhile, Mathiyazhagan’s wife, Rani, has raised serious concerns about her husband’s detention. Speaking in an emotional interview, she alleged that the police had failed to inform her of his whereabouts.
She said, “My name is Rani, Mathiyazhagan’s wife. My husband came home, took a bath and left at 6:00 AM. I haven’t seen him since then. I was also present during the stampede that took place there. I was also trapped there and in a daze, but after everything cleared up, my mother came to my house and picked me up and left.”
Rani claimed she only learned of the arrest through television.
“I talked to him, but I don’t know what happened after evening. They came and said they had arrested him and called my sister and told me that I had just turned on the TV and the headlines were saying that Madhiazhagan had been arrested. How did they arrest him? They didn’t even make a video of the arrest. They didn’t inform me that they had arrested him. They didn’t get my signature. They didn’t say a single word to me. My phone number is with the police. Why didn’t they inform me?”
She added that no summons had been issued prior to the arrest.
“No, they did not issue any summons. I fell down and got injured in my arms and legs. I was not in the hospital. I was discharged in the evening and came home. I stayed at my mother’s house for two days. Since then, no one has come near me with any information and has taken my number. But no information has been given to me so far. I want to know what happened to my husband.”
Rani described the stampede scene, she said, “We were waiting and till then, things were going well. Anna started coming. As soon as the bus stopped, some people started throwing slippers – I doubt if it was any volunteer or fan who would behave that way. This started creating a riot like situation. They all came and started pushing everyone. They pushed everyone. They even stepped on people’s necks. They strangled a child’s mother and two children with the party flag cloth. They came and strangled them. Why is no one asking anything about this?”
She further alleged, “To me, Vijay Anna is like one of our family members. Some people came and conspired everything and left the rowdies inside the crowd. These rowdies entered inside and sprayed something. They sprayed something to make the people unconscious. When they sprayed, many people fainted and started falling one by one. Then they started pushing, we couldn’t even stand steadily. There is a pit at the beginning of the street, they pushed us into that pit. They were just falling on us in bunches; they stamped us on our necks.”
(With inputs from OneIndia Tamil)
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