KARUR: The Karur Judicial Magistrate I court on Wednesday declined to extend the judicial custody of TVK functionaries V.P. Mathiyazhagan, Karur (west) district secretary, and C. Pounraj, Karur central town secretary, who were arrested in connection with the stampeded at Vijay’s Karur rally that killed 41.
Citing the Supreme Court order that transferred the Karur stampede case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), an Assistant Public Prosecutor made a plea before the Magistrate to extend the remand of both until the competent CBI court heard the matter.
Opposing the plea, advocate D. Arasu, representing the TVK leaders, said that the Supreme Court had ordered the transfer of Karur stampede case to CBI on Monday itself. The Special Investigation Team, which was investigating the case until Monday, could no longer handle the case. Hence, the judicial custody could not be extended.
Mathiyazhagan was among three key functionaries of actor Vijay’s TVK named as prime suspects in the case. The others were general secretary Bussy Anand and joint general secretary C T R Nirmal Kumar. All three were booked under Sections 105, 110, 125(b), and 223 of the BNS Act, and Section 3 of the TNPPDL Act.
The FIR stated that though police repeatedly warned Bussy Anand, Nirmal Kumar, and Mathiazhagan to manage the crowd, the instructions were not followed. “As volunteers were allowed to climb and sit on tin sheds and trees, they collapsed under the weight, causing people standing below to fall,” the report said.
After hearing the arguments from both sides Bharat Kumar refused to extend the judicial custody and both of them were subsequently released.
Meanwhile, the District Sessions Court dismissed the bail plea of Venkatesan, 40, district secretary of Salem, who was arrested in connection with a case registered by the Karur town police against a group of TVK cadre for allegedly assaulting a private ambulance driver during the stampede at actor Vijay’s rally in Karur on September 27.
(From reports)
