Karur stampede | CBI grills TVK chief Vijay for seven hours, might call him again

Chennai: Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) president and actor Vijay was grilled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for seven hours at the agency’s headquarters in New Delhi in connection with the stampede at a rally in Karur on September 27 that killed 41 people.

The day also saw CBI inquiring the then Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Davidson Devaasirvatham, now DGP (Armed Police), and then Inspector General (Central zone) K Joshi Nirmal Kumar on the stampede.

Vijay, clad in a black shirt and a black trouser which his fans interpreted as a “strong political message to the BJP, took a chartered flight from Chennai to New Delhi on Monday morning. On arrival, he drove straight to a five-star hotel before reaching the CBI headquarters at Lodi Road in Central Delhi where he was questioned for seven hours.

Sources said that Vijay may be called again for questioning at a later stage after the actor sought exemption from appearing tomorrow due to Pongal festivities.

The questioning came at a time the BJP is facing questions whether it was trying to stop the release of Vijay’s cinema swansong, Jana Nayagan, through the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). BJP leaders have been inviting Vijay to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu to ensure that the anti-government votes don’t get split eventually helping the DMK.

Sources told DH that CBI sleuths wanted to know why Vijay arrived late at the venue, why did he continue with his speech, why did the rally begin late, and why didn’t he stay back when he knew something was amiss – the actor did throw water bottles at the crowd when someone sought help after people began fainting due to dehydration.

Other questions include whether the TVK expected the crowd to swell and the arrangements made by the party for the public meeting. The questioning of Vijay came after the agency probed TVK leaders – ‘Bussy’ N Anand, C T R Nirmal Kumar, Aadhav Arjuna, and Mathiazhagan – for three days in December 2025.

It is believed that Vijay maintained that neither his party nor him were responsible for the stampede and laid the blame on the district administration. It is understood that Vijay also told the CBI sleuths that he left Karur for Chennai as he feared that his presence would escalate the situation.

Though permission was sought for the meeting to be held between 3 pm-10 pm his party, Vijay’s TVK had publicised that he will come at 12.30 pm but the actor reached Karur only at 6 pm, when crowds swelled. Eye witnesses told DH in Karur on September 28 that people pushed the other to move forward to go near the bus in which Vijay was travelling so that they could take a glimpse of the actor.

“That is when an ambulance made its way into the crowd. As people moved towards the left side of the road to give way for the ambulance, there was mayhem,” Karthikeyan, who runs a mobile shop in the locality, had told DH.

(With inputs from Shemin Joy in New Delhi)