Embattled actor-turned-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Friday claimed that the deadly stampede at the party's rally in Karur last week was a result of police lathi-charge.
The claims were made in submission to the Madras High Court. At total of 41 people were killed and more than 60 others were injured in the stampede on September 27.
The court dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of TVK Namakkal district secretary N. Sathish Kumar.
The high court ordered the state government to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the stampede. Senior IPS officer Asra Garg, who is the North Zone IGP, will head the SIT.
This came after a divsion bench of the court rejected a plea by BJP's Uma Anandan who sought a CBI probe and asked her to approach the Madurai bench of the HC.
Earlier in the day, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin alleged that the BJP-led Centre does not have a genuine concern over the stampede and that it just wants to capitalise on the incident as the assembly election approaches.
Stalin wondered why a delegation of NDA MPs was sent to Karur to look into the cause of the stampede while no teams were sent to inquire about the Manipur riots, Morbi bridge accident in Gujarat, and the Kumbha Mela stampede in Uttar Pradesh.
"Of course, there's no interest. It is a petty act of seeking political gain in view of the 2026 Assembly election," Stalin said.