The Tamil Nadu police have rejected the allegations of conspiracy behind the stampede at TVK Chief Vijay’s Karur rally. The state police said that the leadership of Tamilga Vatri Kazhagam (TVK) disregarded the official guidelines at the Karur rally, killing 40 people due to stampede on Saturday. Police said that Vijay’s party gathered a huge crowd despite the place being short.
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of Tamil Nadu Police, Davidson Devasiravatham denied the claim of Tamilga Vatri Kazhagam that stampede had caused a stampede, and clarified that no such incident happened. Addressing a press conference on Sunday, ADGP Davidson said, ‘Vijay’s arrival in the Karur rally was delayed. Namakkal, where another rally of Vijay was to be held, people also gathered in Karur. Due to this, a huge crowd gathered, which became difficult to control.
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TVK took permission for a crowd of 12000
The ADGP further stated that Vijay’s party had sought permission from the police for the gathering of 12,000 people, and accordingly sufficient police force was deployed. The senior police officer said, ‘Due to delay in the Namakkal rally, he (Vijay) was able to reach Karur at 6 pm. The crowd started growing rapidly, people from both places gathered to see them … Everyone wanted to see Vijay and the crowd was moving towards their car. People gathered at the rally were not ready to listen to anyone, even volunteers, bouncers or whom they brought with them, not of them.
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Rally organized in violation of police instructions
ADGP Davidson further said, ‘The organizers of Vijay’s rally turned down the suggestions of officials to give speeches in the area with less people. Apart from this, Vijay did not have light inside the bus, so the crowd could not see them and started walking along the bus. He also denied the allegations of police failure to guess the crowd. Vijay was addressing a rally in Karur on 27 September. At around 9 pm, the rally was chaos and many people fainted. Within a few minutes the situation became tragic and many people including children and women lost their lives. By Sunday evening, the death toll had reached 40, while about 70 people are hospitalized.
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TVK described the stampede as part of the conspiracy
Vijay’s party TVK has approached the Madras High Court demanding an independent investigation into the incident. He alleged that the incident was not accidental, but part of a conspiracy. Vijay’s party has claimed that there was a sudden lightning in the rally, the crowd gathered here was stoned and the police lathi-charged the scene, causing chaos and which turned into a stampede. As the era of allegations and counter-allegations intensified, many people gave different clarifications for the stampede, and it is not yet clear where the mistake was made-was it the fault of selection of the rally venue or was there a mistake in estimating the crowd?
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