Karur stampede: Vijay grilled for nearly six hours by CBI

TVK chief and actor Vijay was questioned for nearly six hours by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at its headquarters in New Delhi on Monday in connection with the Karur stampede case, officials said. He will be summoned again for questioning as some issues need further clarification, they added.

The CBI had asked him to appear again on Tuesday, but the actor sought another date citing Pongal. The agency accepted his request and will issue a fresh date, officials said.

Vijay arrived at the heavily barricaded CBI headquarters at 11.29 am in a black Range Rover. After completing the necessary formalities, he was taken to a team from the anti-corruption unit of the agency, which is probing the September 27, 2025, stampede that claimed 41 lives and left more than 60 people injured in Karur district of Tamil Nadu.

He left the CBI headquarters at around 6.15 pm after nearly six hours of questioning. During the session, he was asked various questions related to the rally at which the tragic incident occurred, officials said. 

The CBI also questioned Tamil Nadu's former ADG (law and order) S Davidson Devasirvatham in the case. The agency also questioned several TVK office bearers in the case.

Anticipating a huge turnout of the actor-politician's supporters, multiple units of the Delhi Police and the Central Armed Police Forces were deployed around the CBI office building to prevent any protests.

A small group of fans managed to slip in among the mediapersons gathered outside the CBI office to get a glimpse of the actor. "We are around 40 fans who have come here to get a glimpse of the actor. We are all based in Delhi," Aiyanar, one of the fans who works as an operations manager with a Noida-based MNC, told PTI.

Vijay arrived in Delhi on a chartered flight from Chennai with some of his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) colleagues, including Aadhav Arjuna.

The federal agency took over the case from an SIT following a Supreme Court order and has been gathering evidence related to the stampede. In October last year, the apex court asked the CBI director to appoint a senior officer to take over the investigation. The court also set up a three-member supervisory committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Ajay Rastogi to monitor the CBI probe.