Karur stampede case: Supreme Court agrees to hear DMK’s plea to bar TVK leaders from ‘influencing’ material witnesses, making ‘threatening’ statements
The Supreme Court on Monday (July 6, 2026) agreed to urgently hear on Tuesday (July 7, 2026) an application filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)
The Supreme Court on Monday (July 6, 2026) agreed to urgently hear on Tuesday (July 7, 2026) an application filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party seeking a judicial direction to bar the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leaders, including Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay and Minister Aadhav Arjuna, from making public statements to “influence material witnesses” in the Karur stampede case while threatening or making false accusations against political opponents. The oral mentioning was made before a Vacation Bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Sheel Nagu by senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for DMK organising secretary R.S. Bharathi. “There is an attempt to influence material witnesses while the CBI investigation ordered by Your Lordships is on,” Mr. Ahmadi submitted, seeking an early hearing. Bharathi has sought impleadment in the pending case before the apex court on the Karur stampede. The application alleged that public statements were made by Mr. Arjuna, who is the Cabinet Minister for Public Works and Sports Development, against former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in connection with the stampede that took 41 lives and left 142 injured during a TVK rally on September 27 last year.
Bharathi said Mr. Arjuna’s statements on July 2 were intended to shift the blame of the stampede onto Mr. Stalin, who was the Chief Minister at the time of the tragedy, in a bid to prejudice the ongoing apex court-ordered Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident. The statements, in substance, claimed that the previous DMK government had “killed Karur people” through police action on the gathered crowd at the rally. The DMK leader said Mr. Arjuna was both Cabinet Minister and an accused in the Karur stampede case. His conduct, as an “accused holding a public office” was impermissible and prejudicial to the fairness of the CBI investigation. The application has sought a direction to the CBI to register a complaint and proceed against the public statements made by Mr. Arjuna for “influencing, tampering with witnesses and impeding with the investigation”. Bharathi further submitted that Chief Minister Vijay was likely to travel to Karur on or about July 10 to meet the families of those who died and injured victims of the stampede and hand over government benefits, including orders of compassionate appointment, to them.
The State government has already announced ex gratia payment of ₹10 lakh to the affected families, the application said. The DMK leader clarified that he had no objection to the State government extending ex gratia assistance, compassionate appointments or other welfare measures to the grieving families but was apprehensive of the fact that the members of these families and those injured were material witnesses in an active investigation. “In these exceptional circumstances, when the investigation is still pending, any direct interaction with such material witnesses by persons connected with the subject matter of the investigation or by the political executive presently in office, particularly while distributing benefits arising out of the very incident under investigation, has the potential to give rise to an apprehension, whether real or perceived, regarding the fairness and independence of the investigative process,” Mr. Bharathi submitted. The application submitted that Mr. Vijay had, even prior to assuming public office, distributed substantial sums of money to the families of the victims while the criminal proceedings were pending.
The BriefWire