The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a CBI probe into the Karur stampede of September 27, 2025, which claimed the lives of 41 people and left several others injured, observing that an impartial investigation is a right of every citizen.
A bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and N.V. Anjaria appointed former Supreme Court judge Justice Ajay Rastogi as the head of a committee to monitor the investigation. The committee will also include two IPS officers from Tamil Nadu, who are not natives of the state, to assist in the process.
The court set aside the Madras High Court’s order that had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by senior IPS officer Asra Garg to probe the incident. The apex court also criticised the High Court for procedural lapses and sought a report from the registrar general explaining how a writ petition seeking a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for rallies was registered as a criminal writ petition.
The bench further held that the principal bench of the High Court could not have entertained the matter that fell within the jurisdiction of the Madurai bench without the Chief Justice’s authorisation, which was absent in this case.
The incident occurred during a rally of Tamil actor Vijay’s political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), where a stampede killed 41 people and injured more than 100 others. Multiple petitions were filed before the Supreme Court, including by TVK, Paneerselvam Pitchaimuthu, S. Prabhakaran, Selvaraj P, and G.S. Mani, all seeking a CBI investigation.
On October 10, the Supreme Court had reserved its order after questioning the High Court’s two conflicting directions—one by the Madurai bench, which declined a CBI probe, and another by the principal bench, which ordered an SIT investigation.
The court expressed surprise over how observations and directions were made against the petitioner TVK in a writ petition that merely sought an SOP for political rallies and road shows. “We are unable to understand how this order was passed,” the bench remarked.
The judges also asked why the principal bench entertained the SOP petition when the Madurai bench had already rejected a related plea concerning the same stampede. The court observed that while the prayer was limited to the formulation of an SOP, the High Court went beyond that scope and constituted an SIT instead.
The plea before the Supreme Court pointed out that the High Court, despite doubting the independence of the state police, had appointed a team composed solely of Tamil Nadu police officers. The petitioners argued that this was inconsistent and prejudicial to TVK and its leaders.
The petitioners further alleged that a pre-planned conspiracy by certain miscreants to create chaos at the rally site could not be ruled out and sought an independent investigation to uncover the real cause of the tragedy.
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