CBI seizes Vijay's campaign bus as Karur stampede probe tightens

The Central Bureau of Investigation has seized the campaign vehicle used by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam chief and Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay in the run-up to the September 27 Karur rally where 41 people were crushed to death in a stampede, officials said — the sharpest escalation yet in the probe of one of the deadliest political crowd disasters in recent memory. The campaign bus, driven from Vijay's Panaiyur base to Karur, is now in CBI custody. Investigators said they are examining its movement logs, travel schedules and compliance with event permits — the paper trail of how the rally was planned, timed and executed. The vehicle's driver is also being questioned to corroborate the rally-day schedule and the movement of the crowd. The seizure marks a decisive turn in an investigation that has been climbing the chain of command. Senior TVK leaders — general secretary Bussy Anand, election campaign management general secretary Adhav Arjun, joint general secretary C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar, Karur West district secretary K.P. Mathiyazhagan and M.C. Paunraj — were questioned in New Delhi on November 25. On December 4, Karur district collector Thangavelam was summoned and questioned for over two hours on administrative approvals, inter-departmental coordination and the response machinery in place on the day. The questions now centre on the gap between permission and reality. The venue at Veluswamypuram was permitted for 10,000 people; an estimated 27,000 packed in. Entry and exit points were inadequate, and witnesses have pointed to the leader's delayed arrival as a factor that compressed the waiting crowd into chaos. A bus that carried the campaign's logistics is now evidence. The probe was transferred to the CBI by the Supreme Court's October 13 interim order, with a monitoring committee headed by retired judge Justice Ajay Rastogi. Meanwhile TVK itself has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Madras High Court's state-police-only SIT and alleging a "pre-planned conspiracy" by miscreants — a plea the party's secretary Aadhav Arjuna mentioned before Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, with the hearing set for October 10. For the families of the 41 dead, the machinery of investigation grinds on. Vijay announced Rs 20 lakh for each bereaved family and Rs 2 lakh for the injured, and met victims' families in Mahabalipuram a month after the tragedy. But compensation is not accountability — and a seized campaign bus is the clearest sign yet that the question of who is responsible is finally being asked at the very top.