Former Supreme Court Judge Justice Ajay Rastogi, who heads the Supreme Court appoint committee monitoring the CBI probe into the Karur stampede, visiting Velusamypuram in Karur on Tuesdasy along with his team members.
The Supreme Court-appointed committee overseeing the CBI investigation into the Karur stampede, which claimed 41 lives at a rally addressed by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam president Vijay on September 27, visited Velusamypuram, the site of the stampede, on Wednesday.
Accompanied by Additional Directors-General of Police Sumit Sharan and Sonal V. Mishra, the members of the committee, led by retired Supreme Court judge Ajay Rastogi, inspected the place where Mr. Vijay addressed the public from atop his campaign vehicle, and the spots were ambulances picked up dead bodies or the injured.
They also studied the topography of the venue, its approach roads, shops and buildings where CCTV footage was collected, among other areas. Mr. Justice Rastogi examined every spot at Ground Zero, mapping the sequence of events that led to the stampede.
The CBI officials, who have been staying in Karur for over five weeks since the Supreme Court transferred the case to the Central agency from the Madras High Court-constituted Special Investigation Team, explained the progress made on the case.
Mr. Justice Rastogi held discussions with CBI DIG Atul Kumar Thakur and Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar. The committee members spent about 20 minutes at the site of the stampede. Superintendent of Police, Karur, K. Josh Thangaiah, was present when the panel carried out the inspection.
The committee members studied whether all standard safety and security protocols were followed. They also checked the adequacy of crowd control measures, the emergency response system and others.
Later, Mr. Justice Rastogi and others visited the Uzhavar Sandhai ground, the Light House junction, and the bus stand roundabout in Karur, where the TVK had originally sought permission to hold the rally before the allocation of Velusamypuram. After analysing the ground details, the team members subsequently returned to the Circuit House, which is being used as the temporary office of the CBI. Mr. Thangaiah and a few senior police officials appeared before the panel members for the second consecutive day on Wednesday. He spent about two hours answering queries.
A number of persons including the family members of the deceased met Justice Rastogi on Tuesday and presented petitions and made their submissions. Karur Collector M. Thangavel appeared before the committee on its first day of the visit.
A group of five doctors, who were part of the doctors engaged for performing post mortem on the dead bodies, appeared before the CBI officials for the inquiry.
Published – December 04, 2025 01:10 am IST
