CBI questions TVK party chief Vijay for over six hours; no fresh summons

New Delhi, Jan 19 (PTI) The CBI questioned TVK chief and actor Vijay for over six hours at its headquarters here for the second time in connection with the Karur stampede case, officials said.

A visibly relaxed Vijay came out of the CBI headquarters in his luxury SUV after questioning was completed at around 5 PM, got down and waved at his supporters and media, before leaving for the five-star hotel where he was staying.

The actor-turned politician was earlier quizzed by the CBI on January 12. He was asked to come again on January 13, but the actor sought another date due to Pongal, after which the agency summoned him on Monday, they said.

Dressed in a casual shirt, the actor arrived at the heavily barricaded agency headquarters on Lodhi Road with a fleet of luxury SUVs at around 10:20 am, they said.

"Lots of rumours are being spread around which are not true. We all know what happened in Karur...When last time the Home Minister was in Tamil Nadu, the state president of the BJP, Nainar Nagenthran, had openly mentioned that Senthil Balaji who is sitting MLA from Karur was responsible for the death of 41 people and you who needs to be summoned and enquired," TVK Joint General Secretary C T Nirmal Kumar told reporters outside the CBI headquarters after Vijay's questioning ended.

He said they are cooperating with the investigating agencies, and no summons for further questioning has been issued.

"...We know who is responsible for the incident, who has done this, and what is the reason for that. That's the reason we don't have any guilt... Our leader wanted to cooperate and we want the real culprit to be brought to justice... we don't have any hesitation to come and appear for the investigation," he said.

During the day, Vijay was questioned by a team of officials led by a deputy superintendent rank officer drawn from the agency's anti-corruption wing, the officials said.

Several questions related to decision-making about the rally, reasons for his delay, continuation of the speech, his knowledge about the chaos, turnout and mismanagement of the crowd were put forth to him, they said.

The call on attributing the role of individuals in the chargesheet will be taken only after a thorough analysis of the statements of the actor, senior political officials of his party, and police and district administration officials involved in the process of giving clearance and managing the rally, they said.

The federal agency took over the case from an SIT following a Supreme Court order and has been gathering evidence related to the September 27 stampede which claimed 41 lives and left more than 60 injured in Tamil Nadu's Karur.

In October last year, the apex court had asked the CBI director to appoint a senior officer to take over the investigation and also constituted a supervisory committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Ajay Rastogi to monitor the agency's investigation.

A bench comprising Justices J K Maheshwari and N V Anjaria had said the stampede has left an imprint in the minds of citizens throughout the country.

It has wide ramifications with respect to the lives of citizens, and enforcing the fundamental rights of the families who lost their kin is of utmost importance, the court had said.

"The faith and trust of the general public in the process of investigation must be restored in the criminal justice system, and one way to instil such trust is by ensuring that the investigation in the present case is completely impartial, independent and unbiased," the bench said. PTI ABS RT