Almost 10 days after 41 people died in a crowd crush in Karur, actor and Tamiliaga Vettri Kazhagam leader Vijay who virtually reached out to the family members of the victims has sought permission from the Karur district administration to visit the bereaved families on Friday. According to sources, Vijay started making the video calls on Monday, October 6, and has reached out to five families until now.
During the video call with the families, which was facilitated by the inner circles considered close to Vijay, he informed the families that he will visit them soon. Sources say that a team of men from Vijay’s close circles visited the families on Monday and connected them over the phone to Vijay. During the interaction that lasted for less than 10 minutes with each of the families, Vijay told the families that he and his party will extend any help required for them.
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— TVK Vijay (@TVKVijayHQ) September 30, 2025
Vijay spoke with the K. Sakthivel of Emoor Pudur who lost his wife Priyadarshini and daughter Dharanika in the stampede. “He told me he would visit soon. He expressed his condolences and deep sorrow,” Sakthivel told The Week over the phone. He also said that the functionaries said that he can ask Vijay for whatever he is in need of when he visits the families. Vijay’s team who visited him told that the date for handing over the Rs 20 lakh relief amount by TVK will be announced soon.
Vijay also dialled the family of 22-year old Brinda from Pudupatti, Senthamangalam East who died in the stampede. He spoke with her husband S. Sudhan. Vijay had told him not to worry and that he would come in person soon. Sudhan and Sakthivel say that call went on for less than five minutes and Vijay remained silent most of the time during the call. But he told them to “bounce back” from the loss and that he himself was devastated due to the untoward incident. The families were told not to record or take any screenshot of the call.
While sources close to TVK say that the process of talking to the bereaved families over the phone might take some time, Vijay had written to the Karur district administration seeking permission to visit the families. Sources say that he has been given an oral go ahead and might visit Karur on Friday.
It may be recalled that the core team members of Vijay - party general secretary Bussy N. Anand and C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar have approached the Supreme Court seeking anticipatory bail. The Karur police had already arrested Mathialagan, TVK’s Karur district secretary who organised the rally on September 27. One other key figure in the party, Aadhav Arjuna, is camping in Delhi.
Three days after the incident, Vijay in a four-minute video absolved himself, saying he and his party cannot be held responsible for the accident and that they did nothing wrong apart from speaking at the designated venue.
Incidentally, the phone calls are the first effort from Vijay and his TVK team after the Karur stampede killed 41 people. The party apparently had gone underground since the incident. |
