Why was Vijay not named an accused in Karur stampede case, asks Thirumavalavan

Taking strong exception to the State police failing to name TVK president Vijay as an accused in the Karur stampede case, VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan on Thursday said the approach of the police could give room to the question whether the DMK had an understanding with Mr. Vijay.

“The attitude of the police is shocking. In the Karur stampede case, some names have been included in the First Information Report and some others are left out. When ‘Bussy’ Anand, general secretary of the TVK, was named as an accused, why the name of Vijay, president of the party, was not included as an accused. Can justice be different for Vijay and Anand?,” Mr. Thirumavalavan wondered.

Speaking to reporters in Tiruchi, he said there was a discrimination on including some names in the FIR and omitting some others. If a case could not be made out against Mr. Vijay, the case registered against Mr. Anand should be withdrawn. “Why should the police file a case against four functionaries of the TVK and arrest two of them? On the other hand Mr. Vijay is being given security. Then, can we say that there is secret understanding between the DMK and Mr. Vijay?,” Mr. Thirumavalavan queried. The “discriminating approach” of State police was unacceptable. It raised questions on whether they were pressured by or afraid of someone.

When asked whether Mr. Vijay was not booked in the case because of his friendship with Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, the VCK leader said he could not answer the hypothetical question. But, the police should explain on what grounds Mr. Vijay was not made an accused and why Mr. Anand was booked.

Mr. Thirumavalavan said Mr. Vijay had been repeatedly proclaiming that the BJP was his ‘ideological enemy’ and the DMK his political enemy. But the BJP was now making frantic efforts to safeguard Mr. Vijay from the Karur stampede case, he alleged. Union Ministers Nirmala Sitaraman and L. Murugan had visited Karur and the 8-member NDA MPs team led by Hema Malini had visited Karur. By meeting some people there, the team held the State government, the police and the district administration responsible for the tragedy. The BJP had been pursuing an agenda of weakening the DMK, its alliance parties and dislodging the State government for long.

Utilising the stampede as an opportunity, the BJP was trying hard to change the ground reality by blaming the DMK government had failed to provide adequate security to meet. The people should analyse why the BJP was trying to safeguard him, the VCK leader said.