Stampede at Vijay’s Karur rally: Delay, blackout, heat, water bottles — what we know so far
Overcrowding, long wait, power cut and poor crowd control turn rally into tragedy
Dubai: A rally by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief and actor-turned-politician Vijay in Karur turned tragic Saturday night, leaving at least 40 people dead, including children and women and more than 100 injured.
While officials have ordered an inquiry, multiple factors appear to have converged to cause the disaster, according to Indian media reports.
Conspiracy?
Vijay’s party TVK has alleged a DMK conspiracy behind the stampede at the rally. TVK’s lawyer, Arivazhagan, has told NDTV that the party has approached the Madras High Court with a petition that urges the court to set up a Special Investigation Team or to transfer the case to the central agency CBI. Mr Arivazhagan trashed the state government’s contentions that safety guidelines were violated at the Karur rally.
Arivazhagan, the state coordinator of TVK’s legal wing, said they will raise the matter before the Madurai bench of the high court tomorrow. “There was a conspiracy, a criminal conspiracy in the incident at Karur, so we requested the honorable high court to investigate the matter independently, not by state agency,” he told NDTV. “The court has to constitute a special investigation team, or they have to transfer the case from Tamil Nadu police to CBI,” he said.
The possible reasons
Tamil Nadu’s Director General of Police G Venkataraman has said that a seven-hour delay in actor-politician Vijay’s arrival at his rally led to an uncontrollable surge of supporters. In a late-night press conference, Venkataraman said the organisers put the expected number at 10,000, but about 27,000 people turned up. He said that 500 personnel were deployed for the rally.
“Earlier rallies of TVK had smaller crowds, but this time the turnout was far higher than expected,” Venkataraman said.
He said that there was a crowd surge after the TVK party announced on its official X (formerly Twitter) handle that 51-year-old Vijay would arrive at the meeting venue by noon. The permission for the rally, however, was sought between 3 pm-10pm, he said.
“The permission was sought between 3pm-10pm. The TVK Twitter account said he would come at 12, and the crowd started coming in from 11AM. He came at 7.40PM. The people lacked sufficient food and water under the hot sun,” he said, adding it was “too early to say what exactly triggered the stampede.”
Videos from the venue showed thousands of people surrounding a large campaign vehicle on top of which Vijay was seen standing and speaking.
Visuals also showed Vijay throwing water bottles from the top of the vehicle to fainting supporters and calling for police help when the crowd became uncontrollable.
Victims identified
The child victims were identified as: Hemalatha (8), Sailetsana (8), Sai Jeeva (4), Guru Vishnu (2), Sanuj (13), Dharanika (14), Pazhaniammal (11), Kokila (14), Krithik (7), and Kishore (17).
Other victims include: Thamaraikannan (25), Sukanya (33), Akash (23), Dhanushkumar (24), Vadivazhagan (54), Revathi (52), Chandra (40), Ramesh (32), Ravikrishnan (32), Priyadarshini (35), Maheshwari (45), Malathi (36), Sumathi (50), Manikandan (33), Satheeshkumar (34), Anand (26), Sankar Ganesh (45), Vijayarani (42), Gokulapriya (28), Fathima Banu (29), Jaya (55), Arukkani (60), and Jayanthi (43).
Here’s what happened at the rally:
1. The crowd far exceeded estimates
Organisers told police they expected 10,000 attendees, but officials now say 27,000–30,000 people gathered.
Police had rejected the party’s first choice of venue (Karur lighthouse roundtana) as too narrow, but the alternate site also proved inadequate.
The crowd swelled as the day wore on, with no proper barricading or controlled entry points.
2. A six-hour delay worsened the situation
Permission was sought for a rally between 10am and 3pm. Vijay was expected to arrive by 12:30 pm.
Crowds began gathering from late morning, but the actor reached only around 7:40 pm, after campaigning earlier in Namakkal.
By evening, many had been standing for hours in the heat without food, water, or shade. Frustration and fatigue grew.
3. Heat and overcrowding
Several people fainted in the afternoon itself as temperatures rose in the packed venue.
Videos showed Vijay throwing water bottles into the crowd from his campaign bus to ease the suffering.
He reportedly pleaded, “Police please help,” after a child went missing in the melee.
3a. Blackout sparked panic
A power cut during Vijay’s speech caused confusion.
A witness told Puthiyathalaimurai TV from a hospital ward that when the lights went out, people couldn’t hear him and surged forward, desperate to catch his words.
In the rush, several fainted victims had to be carried to ambulances.
4. The trigger: Surge towards Vijay’s bus
The stampede began around 7:45pm when a group of supporters fell while trying to get closer to Vijay’s vehicle as he addressed the crowd.
The fall caused panic, and in the crush that followed, people were trampled.
Even ambulances stationed nearby could not push through the dense crowd immediately, delaying medical aid.
5. Emergency response was overwhelmed
The Karur Government Hospital summoned all doctors to handle the influx of victims.
Additional medical teams were dispatched from neighbouring districts, but several died before reaching care.
Police and volunteers struggled to control the surging crowd, with rescue operations taking hours.
6. Political reactions and inquiries
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin ordered an immediate judicial inquiry headed by retired Justice Aruna Jagadeesan.
He announced Rs1 million ex gratia for families of the deceased and Rs100,000 for those critically injured.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief, calling the incident “deeply saddening.”
Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin cancelled a foreign trip to return and oversee relief.
7. Questions over TVK’s rally culture
This is not the first time Vijay’s rallies have caused alarm. His debut rally in Trichy earlier this month saw traffic frozen for six hours as supporters clogged streets.
The Madras High Court had previously warned that TVK rallies posed safety risks, and police had imposed 23 conditions on such events, including advisories for vulnerable groups to stay away.
Many of these rules were openly flouted: children, infants, and the elderly were present in Karur despite warnings.
While Vijay’s late arrival intensified restlessness, experts and officials agree the stampede was the result of poor planning, overcrowding, lack of crowd control and inadequate amenities. The judicial inquiry is expected to focus on both organisational lapses and systemic failures in enforcing safety protocols.
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