The DMK moved the Supreme Court on Friday seeking a direction to restrain Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and other TVK leaders from making public statements or levelling “false accusations” in connection with the Karur stampede in which 41 people were killed.
Filed by DMK organising secretary R S Bharathi, the plea sought to be made a party in a pending case.
Bharathi submitted that several persons initially chargesheeted in the case were now ministers in the Tamil Nadu cabinet following the 2026 assembly elections.
Referring to a public statement allegedly made on Thursday by Tamil Nadu minister Aadhav Arjuna, the plea pointed out that the minister allegedly said there was “a score to settle” over the Karur incident. Arjuna alleged that the previous DMK government had “killed” Karur people through the police.
Bharathi has sought directions against Chief Minister Vijay and TVK ministers, including Arjuna, Bussy Anand and CT Nirmal Kumar.
He urged the top court to restrain them, and others connected with the case, from making public statements on the merits of the pending investigation into the Karur stampede.
Bharathi also demanded safeguards before the state government distributed benefits, government orders or compassionate appointments to the families of those who died or were injured during the stampede.
Maintaining that it had no objection to welfare measures for the victims’ families, the DMK highlighted that these families were material witnesses in the ongoing case being probed by the CBI under the supervision of a committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Ajay Rastogi.
