Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay is set to appear before the CBI just before Monday afternoon.
This comes after at least 40 people died and at least 60 were injured in a September 27 stampede at Tamil Nadu's Karur, where the actor-politician had made a public appearance before hordes of fans and TVK supporters.
#WATCH | Chennai: TVK president and actor Vijay emplanes for Delhi from Chennai airport.
— ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2026
Vijay will appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Delhi today for a probe into the Karur stampede. pic.twitter.com/XGlgbuLVMY
The actor, who is already under Y-category security, has sought additional security for himself from the Delhi police, ahead of the CBI questioning.
He left for Delhi early on Monday, along with a small group of party office bearers, including Nirmal Kumar, Aadhav Arjuna, Vishnu Reddy, Jagadeesh Palaniswami, C. Rajendran, and the head of his security detail, Naeem. He is expected to return to Chennai the following evening.
Notably, the CBI probe had faced pushback from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Tamil Nadu government in early December, which had challenged the Supreme Court's October 13 order directing the CBI to take over from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that had been probing the case.
The state government had argued that there were "no exceptional circumstances to direct central agency intervention", making a case for the competency of the SIT.
"The records clearly establish that the district administration and police acted with utmost diligence, foresight, and compliance with all statutory and procedural safeguards," it had added, refuting allegations of negligence on the part of the Karur district administration and the police.
Yet, the probe was finally handed over to the CBI, which has already questioned the party's top brass, except for Vijay.
The Karur stampede took place after the actor-politician's scheduled appearance at Karur's Veluswamypuram. When he finally made his appearance after a significant delay, his retinue was met with a larger crowd than previously expected, in which many people dismantled the barricades.
He even threw water bottles into the packed crowd, which eventually led to children separated from their parents, and many people trampled before the police could take action.
Chaos soon ensued, leading to Vijay making his exit. Apologising to the people, Vijay at the time had alleged that the stampede was a political conspiracy by the DMK government.
