The Supreme Court has handed over the investigation of Karur accident in Tamil Nadu to CBI. On September 27, 41 people lost their lives in an accident that took place during the rally of actor Vijay’s party TVK (Tamilaga Vettari Kazhagam). The Supreme Court said that the CBI investigation will be monitored by a committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ajay Rastogi.
The bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice NV Anjaria has said that the monitoring committee can also include two IPS officers of Tamil Nadu cadre, who are not natives of the state. CBI will have to submit the progress report of the investigation to the committee every month.
The Supreme Court has criticized the Chennai Bench of Madras High Court in its order. The order states that Karur falls under the jurisdiction of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. Chennai Bench had no authority to hear this case. Despite this, the Chennai Bench formed the SIT while hearing such a case, in which there was no demand for investigation into the Karur accident. In the petition, there was a demand to make rules only for organizing political rallies.
Tamil film star Vijay’s party TVK had filed a petition against the order of the Chennai bench of the High Court on October 3. In the petition, only the formation of SIT of Tamil Nadu Police officers was opposed. TVK had expressed fear of bias. Apart from this, a BJP leader had also filed a petition demanding handing over the investigation to CBI.
The Supreme Court in its order has also raised questions on how TVK was given permission when AIADMK was not allowed to hold the rally due to narrow space. The court also said that conducting post-mortem of 30 to 40 dead bodies at night and cremating them at 4 in the morning gives rise to serious questions.