TVK district secretary arrested over Karur rally stampede that killed 41

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Actor-politician Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam's Karur West district secretary was arrested in connection with the stampede at the party president's rally, police said on Monday night.

Karur West district secretary V P Mathyiyalagan was among the three TVK office bearers named in the FIR into the stampede that occurred on Saturday in which at least 41 people died and 60 were injured.

TVK state general secretary Bussy Anand and party deputy general secretary Nirmal Kumar are the other two party office bearers named in the FIR.

Mathyiyalagan was picked up near the Karur-Dindigul border, an official said.

The three TVK functionaries have been booked under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 125 (endangering life of others), and 223 (disobedience to order), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act, 1992, has also been levelled against them, a police official said.

According to the FIR, TVK chief Vijay "deliberately" reached late at Velusamypuram in Karur district, leading to overcrowding and restlessness among the people, gathered to attend his rally on September 27.

It also said TVK party functionaries did not regulate their cadres or heed police warnings against overcrowding.

"Cadres perched atop tin sheets and tree branches, by throwing caution to the wind, fell on people standing below, and as a result, many choked, leading to an abnormal situation", police said in the FIR.

The toll in the stampede increased to 41 on Monday, with a 60-year-old woman succumbing to her injuries at a hospital.