Karur stampede: CBI team visits mishap site, begins intensive probe
TOPSHOT - An ambulance carrying victims makes its way through the crowd following a stampede that broke out during a political rally in the Karur district, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on September 27, 2025. A stampede that killed dozens at a south India political rally happened after a crowd of thousands waited hours in baking heat without sufficient safeguards, officials and witnesses said on September 28. Some 27,000 people thronged a public road in Tamil Nadu state in hopes of seeing popular actor-turned-politician Vijay on September 27, but panic broke out and 39 were killed, authorities said. (Photo by AFP)
Three days after the family members of the victims of the Karur tragedy met with actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay, to take his condolences and consolations, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday visited Velsusamypuram, the scene of the deadly stampede on September 27, which killed 41 people and 60 others injured.
The CBI team, headed by Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar, visited Velusamypuram, the venue where Vijay’s rally was held. The officers went around the place and conducted enquiries with the shop owners, traders and a photographer present at the site on September 27. The team studied the topography of the area and the approach roads leading to the venue where TVK’s rally was held. The team also studied Vijay’s travel route from Velayutham Palayam, which was Vijay’s entry point to Velusamypuram from Namakkal. The team also visited the shops, eateries and hospital at the stampede site.
During their visit, a few of the local police officers were present and guiding the team. The CBI officers earlier inquired with the Inspector of Karur town police station, Manivannan, who had initially registered a case on September 27, following the death of 41 people. Manivannan, who had filed the first FIR in the case, presented himself before the CBI for enquiry at the Karur circuit house, which is being used as a temporary office of the CBI.
The case was transferred to the CBI on October 13, while the central agency re-registered the case on October 26, following the Supreme Court direction. The FIR by Karur Town police naming TVK general secretary Bussy N. Anand and C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar was re-registered by the CBI, a few days before the investigations began. But the central agency’s FIR remains a secret, and its contents have not been made public yet. The agency had submitted a copy of the FIR with the jurisdictional magistrate court. Initially, in any case, the central agency re-registers the FIR and then the alterations to the FIR are done at a later stage when there is substantial progress and evidence through investigation.
India