Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam had previously announced that interviews to select the candidates for all the constituencies were set to begin on March 10 at the party's Panaiyur office. Now, the Central Bureau for Investigation (CBI) has summoned Vijay for another inquiry in the Karur stampede case on the same day.
Previously, the bureau issued a notice to actor and politician Vijay before the probe agency on January 12, three months after the tragedy unfolded on September 27. The crowd crush tragedy, which took place during Vijay's political rally, resulted in the death of 41 people, including ten children, 18 women, and 13 men.
Vijay has been facing flak and controversies on both his political and film fronts for the past few weeks. Vijay's final film, Jana Nayagan, is yet to see the light of day due to the censorship case. Meanwhile, the CBFC's revising committee was scheduled to rewatch Jana Nayagan on Monday and issue a censor certificate. However, the rewatching was also postponed due to one of the committee members' ill health.
Vijay has also been in the news due to Sankgeetha Sornalingam's divorce petition. While the actor's wife has filed a divorce case citing an extramarital affair with a female actor as the reason, Vijay recently made a public appearance with Trisha, intensifying the speculation. Following this, Sankgeetha filed a fresh plea with the court, seeking permission to stay at their Neelankarai house.
The tragedy in Karur unfolded after almost 30,000 people had gathered to catch a glimpse of Vijay when its capacity was only about 10,000. Many had waited at the venue for several hours without basic facilities—a major reason cited for the crowd crush.
A month after the stampede, Vijay met the victims' families in a closed-door meeting at a private resort in Mamallapuram, near Chennai, where he offered all support possible and apologised for not meeting them at their homes.
