TVK vs police: Vijay’s party alleges lathicharge led to stampede at Karur, state government calls it…

TVK vs police: Vijay's party alleges lathicharge led to stampede at Karur, state government calls it...

Actor-turned-politician Vijay’s party, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam or TVK on Friday told the court that a lathicharge by the cops led to a stampede that killed 41 people last weekend in Tamil Nadu’s Karur district.

“When supporters were waiting to see their leader, Vijay, some from the crowd threw slippers. Without warning, the cops started lathicharging people which led to the stampede. Police failed to handle it in the right way,” Vijay’s party claimed in court.

This attracted the Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK’s reaction who termed this as baseless. Earlier, DMK had slammed TVK chief Vijay for his alleged “arrogance, hunger for money, publicity mania and the desire for chair,” and said his challenge to the state government to arrest him for the stampede was aimed at diverting attention away from the deaths.

The actor-politician in his video message neither offered his condolences nor conveyed his sympathies to the bereaved families, the Dravidian party said, targeting him for his alleged “cinematic antics”.

What the police said?

State police chief G Venkataraman said crowds had been waiting for hours under the hot sun without sufficient food and water after the public was informed that Vijay would arrive at the venue by noon. He added 10,000 people were expected but some 27,000 turned up.

“The crowds started coming in from 11 am. He came at 7:40 pm. The people lacked sufficient food and water under the hot sun,” the top cop had told reporters then.