00:00Top news of the day, TVK Chief Vijay is at CBI headquarters in Delhi in connection with Karoor's
00:06stampede case. Now Vijay is being grilled by the CBI as the probe agency investigates Karoor's
00:13stampede that claimed 41 lives on September 27th last year. The tragedy occurred during an election
00:20campaign event of the TVK. The investigation was handed over to the central agency after the
00:26Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe into the incident. Vijay is being quizzed at CBI headquarters.
00:32He was summoned by the probe agency on January 6th as a witness in the case. TVK sought security
00:39from Delhi police for Vijay's stay in the capital. Vijay took a chartered flight from Chinnai to Delhi.
00:44He was accompanied by his close aide, Aadha Varjuna. The ongoing investigation by the CBI is focusing
00:50on the several lapses at the rally that may have contributed to the disaster, including the
00:56venue capacity, inadequate crowd control measures, poor traffic management and an insufficient medical
01:04response system. DMK meanwhile hit out at centre questioning CBI grilling Vijay in Delhi. DMK said
01:12that the CBI was against criminal jurisprudence.
01:18We have, you know, around 7,000 to 800 people who are supporting from Delhi and all our youths
01:24all are working and, you know, corporate sectors working. Some are engineers, doctors. We are all
01:30together gathering just to support him. Had this not been a Monday morning, we would have seen
01:347,000 supporters on the ground. Yes, yes, exactly. Even today I had, you know, an assignment need to be
01:39submitted around 12, but, you know, I had made an excuse and just came here to support our Talabadi only.
01:45BJP is known for it. BJP is called washing machine. They will use, misuse the powers of CBI, ED,
01:52IT, every department. Now they have started with the CBFC also. So they are known for it and they
01:59will put pressure and I don't know how Vijay is going to face it. Sir, in fact, you know, a lot of
02:05people have called in to why Vijay has been called in to Delhi for questioning. When you have in
02:09Chennai, you have CBI, you know, offices there. In Karur, you have officers who have been stationed.
02:14Inquiry that had... could have easily been done in Chennai. No, they have called other people of
02:19the party also to Delhi. So they are conducting the Delhi. CBI is conducting the case, I think.
02:24Maybe that is the reason they have called him also to Delhi. But it is convenient for them to
02:29call him to Delhi and put pressure. See, it is not about just Vijay. It is about criminal
02:35justice system. The FAR is registered in Karur. The incident took place in Karur. CBI has a
02:43camp office in Karur. They also have offices in Chennai. Why someone has to be summoned all
02:49the way to Delhi? What is the connection to Delhi with this case? Except that the investigating
02:55officers are there. Why can't they come here and investigate? See, there are doctors who have
03:03conducted the postpartum. So will all these doctors who have conducted postpartum, issued
03:08injury certificates, will all of them be summoned to Delhi before the investigating officer? What
03:14kind of an investigation is this? Why does the CBI do this?
03:22After the tragic incident, Vijay broke his silence after four days and blamed others for this
03:28conspiracy. Listen.
03:29I had something. I think he asked what happened. He asked what happened. He said, I think
03:43to him, I think he did not got to look like a ╨┤╨╡╨╗╨░╤В╤М, but he said, I said, I'll have to go
03:45walk him home. He said, I will not have to hear what happened yet. But he did not get to
03:48himself. He said, I will not have to go. He said, I will not have to leave me alone. He said, I will not
03:53tell him to be isolated in the information. You will be naturally at the end. You will not have to
03:54me. You will be lying. You will not have to leave me alone. I will never stop for me. And I will not be
03:56And joining us live is India Today's Anaga Keshav.
04:13Anaga, you know, we are seeing a lot of support of his fans even in Delhi as the questioning continues.
04:20But do tell us, this entire CBI questioning, it's becoming a huge issue, of course,
04:26in Tamil Nadu.
04:27But what are the TVK functionaries saying about this questioning?
04:34In fact, the TVK functionaries have stood in solidarity with Dr. Neta Vijay.
04:40They are saying that this whole thing is a conspiracy by the BJP to arm twist Vijay is what they say.
04:47Not just that, they're also pointing hands at the DMK-led government in Tamil Nadu by saying
04:52that they have not provided enough security and they provided a narrow and constricted
04:57space for Vijay's event, which led to the kind of tragedy that we saw.
05:01And therefore, the TVK carders are crying foul by saying that all of this is a conspiracy
05:07that's orchestrated against Vijay and the BJP government in the centre is only trying to
05:12arm twist him politically.
05:14One is by delaying his film release, another one by summoning him all the way to Delhi.
05:18And therefore, this is nothing but an arm twisting measure by the BJP is what the TVK carder
05:24are now trying to say.
05:25Right, Anagha, do stay on with us.
05:28So, it seems the questioning has started, the second round of questioning has also started.
05:33But do tell us that he has not come alone here.
05:36His aides have also accompanied him.
05:42That's true.
05:42In fact, his close aide, Adhavarjuna along with Nirmal Kumar, both of these top aides of
05:48TVK have accompanied Vijay on his visit to Delhi.
05:52In fact, Adhavarjuna and Nirmal Kumar were also summoned by CBI last time.
05:56So, they do know the kind of questions that CBI officers would ask.
06:00And we believe that Vijay has gotten a full lowdown of the kind of questions that is expected
06:05by CBI.
06:06Both Adhavarjuna, Nirmal Kumar, in fact, the former IRS officer, KG Arundraj, have debriefed
06:12Vijay as to what to really expect and what are the kind of answers that he should give to
06:17the investigating officer.
06:19And that includes sequence by sequence of what really unfolded on that fateful day.
06:24The fact that he first went to Namakal and then he came all to Karur.
06:29And while he was transiting, there was a huge crowd surge.
06:33The same crowd that came to Namakal tailgated him all the way to Karur.
06:38So, all this information, minute by minute, second by second, hour by hour, will be narrated
06:43by Vijay to the investigating officers.
06:45In fact, the officers have also questioned Vijay as to why is it that he didn't immediately
06:49pause his speech the second he saw people faint.
06:52The second there came the news of a nine-year-old girl who went missing, there came the news
06:56of people fainting because of dehydration and fatigue.
06:59Why didn't Vijay immediately stop his speech?
07:02That's number one question.
07:03Number two, why did Vijay immediately leave as soon as the death toll touched about 30?
07:08That was when he immediately left Karur.
07:10So, questions are being put to Vijay by the officers about why is it that he immediately
07:14chose to leave, you know, leave the venue.
07:17What, you know, what's the procedure?
07:19Procedural lapses that TVK has done for this event.
07:23So, all these kind of angles are being probed by the CBA investigating officers.
07:28The goal is to find out just one thing.
07:30Is this a negligence on part of the event organisers or is this a lapse in negligence and an administrative
07:37failure on part of the government?
07:39This is the main angle that the CBA is really trying to probe.
07:43Right.
07:43Anaka Keshav, do stay on with us as we quickly dip into, explain to our viewers what are the
07:49kind of questions that are being asked to Vijay?
07:51What is the line of questioning?
07:53Because India today has accessed that line of questioning.
07:55First question, how many meetings on Karur rally?
07:59As far as the organisation of this rally was concerned, how many meetings were conducted
08:04with the officials within themselves?
08:06Who did you meet for the Karur rally?
08:09Which were the officials that you met and you spoke to?
08:12This is a question that CBA is asking.
08:14Also, why breach pact with cops on rally?
08:18Well, there were certain commitments that were made by the party of Vijay which were related
08:24to management, the number of people that will be attending.
08:28Those are the kind of questions that are being asked that why was it breached?
08:32Why timing of rally was changed?
08:34Remember, Vijay was supposed to come at around 12 and he was almost 7 to 8 hours late.
08:40So, that was one thing which was key in as to why the crowd swelled over there.
08:46So, he was asked, why were you so late?
08:49For 7 hours, why did you delay that rally?
08:53Another question that was asked was, why was there no water bottle for the crowd?
08:59When the crowd started pressing together and people started suffocating and fainting,
09:04in fact, he was seen throwing bottles of water and that video evidence is present with
09:09the cops and the CBI.
09:11And our last question that we are showing you is, why no proper crowd management was done?
09:16And this is a question that is being asked again and again, not just to Vijay but to
09:20the cops as well as to if you knew that there are going to be so many people that why not
09:25do proper crowd management?
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