Noting that the stampede in actor-politician Vijay’s TVK rally in Karur last month had political undertones, the Supreme Court on October 13 decided to hand over the investigation into the tragedy to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and also appointed a three-member panel headed by former SC judge Ajay Rastogi to supervise the probe.
Questioning the fairness of the probe, a bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and N.V. Anjaria noted that top state police officials had made a statement that their subordinates were not at fault. The bench said, “Prima facie, this fact in itself creates a doubt in the minds of the public about the independence and impartiality of the investigation.”
A total of 41 persons died in the stampede on September 27. More than 100 were injured. The families of the dead and the injured are waiting for justice arrived at after a fair and free probe. The apex court said, “Looking to the political undertone of the case and the fact that without having regard to the gravity of the incident, the comments which have been made before the media by the top officers of the police department may create doubts in the minds of the citizenry on impartiality and fair investigation.” It added, “The faith and trust of the general public on the process of investigation must be restored in the criminal justice system, and one way to instill such trust is by ensuring that the investigation in the present case is completely impartial, independent and unbiased.” The court, therefore, handed over the probe to the CBI.
The apex court bench also sought an explanation from the Madras high court on the manner in which a single-judge bench of the court had taken suo moto cognisance of the case and ordered a SIT probe when a similar matter was pending before the Madurai bench of the HC.
“…it is clear that the division bench at Madurai denied the CBI investigation, holding that the investigation by the local police is not flawed, while the learned single judge at the Main Seat (Chennai), dissatisfied with the police investigation, directed for constitution of SIT. Such recourse prima facie indicates the lack of sensitivity and propriety to deal with such a matter, creating multiplicity of proceedings, for reasons best known to the hon’ble judges,” the SC bench said.
The Supreme Court directed the CBI to forthwith appoint a senior officer for taking over the probe and ordered the state police to immediately hand over the FIR and other relevant papers, evidence — digital or otherwise — collected till now to the CBI for further investigation.