00:00And first up we get you breaking news coming in of how the Madras High Court has ordered
00:03constitution of an SIT headed by IPS officer Asrat Ghar to probe into the Karoosh Stampede
00:10tragedy. High Court judge has said that TVK party leaders had abandoned the scene of occurrence.
00:19The court highly condemns such an act of the political party, especially when children and
00:25women have died, says the party has not even expressed any remorse and it has shown the
00:32mental state of leader Vijay. Madras High Court coming down heavily on actor and politician
00:39Vijay for fleeing the scene at a time that's sensitive. 41 people lost their lives and in
00:46the latest the Madras High Court has ordered the constitution of an SIT that will be headed
00:52by IPS officer Asra Garg to probe into what were the reasons behind the Karoosh Stampede
00:58tragedy. Let me cut across to Anugha Keshav joining us with further details on what the
01:05Madras High Court has said with regards to constituting this SIT to be headed by IPS officer Asra Garg
01:11and most importantly, how they pulled up politician Vijay and TVK.
01:17Well, in fact, Svesha, the Madras High Court has come down heavily and has lambasted Vijay and the
01:26TVK party by saying that the leadership of TVK immediately abandoned and fled the scene of
01:32occurrence. The court has also gone on to grill Vijay by saying that the party has not shown even a
01:38wee bit remorse and the judge has also pulled up the state government saying that they have been
01:43showing leniency to Vijay because there were videos that were floating around on social media where we
01:49could see vehicles that you know that came under the TVK's convoy but still the driver did not pay
01:56any heed and kept driving. So, the judge has pulled this issue up and has questioned the state government
02:01as to why is it that no such action or an FIR was being registered against Vijay. So, why is it
02:08that the Tamil Nadu government is showing leniency to Vijay is what the judge and the court are asking
02:14at the moment. I just want to read out to you some crucial hearing that we have with us. In fact,
02:20the judge has gone on to say that it appears that the state is showing some leniency to the organizers
02:25of the event. Everybody has witnessed the videos. Everything is available on social media. It was an
02:31uncontrolled mob. Why has the police not taken cognizance of it? How is it that the police, the
02:37state police has taken a case of hit and run so lightly is what the judge has questioned the state
02:42government pulling up both the government and the TVK party including Vijay and thereby the court has
02:48ordered for the formation of an SIT to probe into Karud tragedy. This will be headed by Asra Garg.
02:54So, there is also a one-man commission that is probing this independently. Now, the court has
03:00constituted its own SIT to probe into Karud tragedy. There was also a plea that was placed in front of
03:07the high court seeking for transfer of the plea of the investigation to CBI. That case was dismissed.
03:13There is one more pending on the BJP side that will come up for hearing but now the court has maintained
03:18that this case will be transferred to an SIT that will be probing this matter.
03:24Thank you, Anika. And Vijay fleeing the scene was absolutely condemnable. A question that we kept
03:30on asking as soon as this news broke. Especially the handling of TVK of what they did given the fact
03:38that all these supporters came for Vijay. Now, I also want to talk to you about the probe aspect
03:43because there were a lot of questions around how fair the probe will be given the fact that the DMK
03:48government has appointed this one-man commission to look into what caused the Karud Stampede tragedy.
03:54Now, with this decision of the Madras High Court constituting an SIT, has this brought about any sort of settlement in that sense?
04:02Well, it appears that the court maintains that this SIT will be independent because there were
04:12a lot of apprehensions with respect to the one-man commission that was headed by a retired
04:17high court judge. Whether since it was handled by the state government, if there will be bias
04:22in probing of this incident. And now the court has formulated its own SIT that's headed by
04:28IPS officer Asra Garg. The court says that this will be a court-monitored probe which will
04:34ensure transparency and an unbiased probe is what they are saying. But the BJP maintains
04:39that this case has to be handed over to CBI is what the BJP and TVK had demanded. But now
04:45it appears that the court has taken a call to give this case, to hand over this case to a
04:51special investigation team that's headed by Asra Garg. The court-monitored probe for a free
04:56and fair investigation is what they are saying. We are still, you know, awaiting for a response
05:01on TVK's behalf on this end. But what TVK originally wanted was a CBI probe. And now the court has
05:08directed for the formation of an SIT by saying that this will ensure a free and unbiased probe.
05:15Oh yes, absolutely. Anika, I want to thank you at the moment for getting us all those details.
05:19And let's quickly recap what our viewers were just tuning in. Yes, the Madras High Court has
05:23ordered the constitution of an SIT that will be headed by IPS officer Asra Garg. This to probe
05:29into the Karoor Stampede tragedy. High Court judge who has said straight up that TVK party leaders
05:36abandoned the scene of occurrence. The court has highly condemned such an act of any political party,
05:42especially when children and women have died. The court said that the party has not even expressed
05:48any remorse and it shows the mental state of their leader Vijay. The court coming down heavily on
05:55actor and politician Vijay for the way this entire matter was handled by the TVK. The question that
06:01India today asked from the very moment this news broke, 41 people lost their lives. And we'll continue
06:09to get you all the updates.
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