Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu minister and DMK MLA V Senthil Balaji appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in New Delhi on Tuesday in connection with the stampede at actor Vijay's rally in Karur on September 27, 2025, which killed 41 people.
Balaji's appearance comes just two days after TVK chief Vijay showed up before the CBI for the third time in two months. Balaji being summoned by the CBI is a significant development since he was not named in the case by the CBI or in the FIR filed by the Tamil Nadu police.
He was questioned for about five hours.
TVK has been wildly alleging that Balaji was responsible for the stampede by pointing to his arrival at a hospital where people fainted at the rally were taken within minutes of the incident.
Sources told DH that Balaji was questioned on the claims by TVK that water bottles that were distributed to people at the rally had the name of his trust and about video evidences purportedly submitted by the actor's party.
Investigations into the stampede attained political colour in October when the TVK publicly accused that the DMK was behind the incident and that is the reason the party knocked at the doors of the Supreme Court seeking an independent probe.
Further, in January, state BJP chief Nainar Nagenthiran told a party rally in which Union Minister Amit Shah was present that the role of Senthil Balaji, the DMK's strongman in western Tamil Nadu, in the stampede could not be ruled out.
Issuing summons to both Vijay and Balaji, who hails from Karur, is seen as an attempt to bring the issue to the fore ahead of the assembly elections.
The BJP and AIADMK have been asking the DMK dispensation to take responsibility for the incident. However, the AIADMK changed its track and now blames the TVK after Vijay began criticising the party in public domain.
The summons will also give enough fodder to the AIADMK and BJP to attack the DMK, which has been claiming that it would certainly win the 2026 elections.