The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted the withdrawal of an application filed in the Karur stampede case seeking directions to restrain Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leaders and other accused persons from making public statements during the pendency of the CBI investigation into the incident.
The application was moved in the pending proceedings in Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam v. P.H. Dinesh, arising out of the September 2025 Karur stampede in which 41 people lost their lives during a TVK rally. The Supreme Court had earlier transferred the investigation to the CBI and constituted a monitoring mechanism for the probe.
During the hearing before a Bench of Justice K.V. Viswanathan and Justice Alok Aradhe, counsel for the applicant contended that a public narrative was being created by the accused persons through compensation announcements and statements to the media, which could prejudice the ongoing investigation. The applicant sought directions restraining public statements touching upon the merits of the case during the pendency of the CBI probe.
The Bench, however, questioned the maintainability of such a prayer, asking, “You want the Chief Minister’s message to be regulated by the Supreme Court?” The counsel clarified that the request was confined to statements capable of influencing the investigation. However, the Court noted that if any specific statement was found to interfere with the investigation, appropriate remedies could be pursued before the competent forum.
Faced with the Court’s observations, counsel sought permission to withdraw the application with liberty to avail such other remedies as may be available in law. The Bench permitted the withdrawal and dismissed the application as withdrawn.