Key Points

He argued that controlling the crowd was the responsibility of the police, who had the authority and intelligence to manage large gatherings, following a local court in Tamil Nadu's Karur sending two Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) functionaries to judicial custody in connection with the Karur stampede.

He also highlighted that the party had previously organised numerous meetings and campaigns without any issues in the past, but the situation in Karur went out of control due to an unexpected surge in the crowd.

Speaking to ANI, lawyer Manikandan said, "...We have argued that the Police have the authority, they have an Intelligence. We had already organised many meetings and political campaigns, even at the state and zonal levels. But, here in Karur district, we had given a letter and followed all the conditions imposed by the Police."

"But controlling the crowd must be by them...We had taken permission from 3 pm to 10 pm...Vijay is a political leader and when he is on the way, there will be more people and we cannot go very fast...Even after the meeting started, there were no issues for 10 minutes...But after that, the crowd swelled. To control the crowd, the Police had to act..." he added.

Earlier today, the local court sent two TVK functionaries to judicial custody till October 14 in connection with the stampede that occurred at party president and actor Vijay's rally on September 27, which claimed 41 lives so far. The court passed its judgment today.

The two TVK workers - Mathiyazhagan, the party's Karur West District Secretary and MC Paun Raj, the Karur town functionary, were brought to the court by the Karur City Police after their medical examination.

TVK's Karur West District Secretary, Mathiyazhagan and Karur town functionary who arranged flagpoles and flex banners for TVK chief Vijay's campaign were arrested in connection with the September 27 incident.

While Mathaiyazhagan was arrested on Monday, the Karur police arrested MC Pounraj today.

TVK's lawyer, advocate Manikandan said, "An FIR has been filed against three people - Karur District Secretary and another two people. On behalf of TVK, we have contested that the permission was asked according to the law and the meeting was conducted according to the law. Everything happened to the law. But the Police failed to give sufficient force to the assembly. We had given our letter for 10,000 people..."

"One meeting was cancelled with the advice of the Police...They could have given advice for us that crowd will increase and cannot be controlled. Judge has observed that action will be taken according to law. They have given liberty to file bail application and further steps will be as per law. 14-day judicial custody has been granted by the judge..." the advocate said.

Meanwhile, BJP MPs Anurag Thakur and Tejasvi Surya met with the bereaved families of the individuals who lost their lives in the Karur stampede on September 24.

- ANI