Karur stampede: Advocate files plea urging Madras High Court to recall order constituting SIT
The lawyer belonging to Congress party claimed the order had been obtained by playing a fraud upon the court and that the writ petitioner was a fictitious person
Updated - October 07, 2025 06:39 pm IST - CHENNAI
Retired judge Aruna Jagatheesan of the one-woman inquiry commission set up to investigate the stampede during TVK campaign tour in Karur, during her inquiry at the venue where the meeting was held at Velusamypuram in Karur, on September 28, 2025 | Photo Credit: R. Vengadesh
A petition has been filed in the Madras High Court urging it to recall its October 3, 2025 order constituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the Karur stampede which claimed 41 lives during a campaign by actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president C. Joseph Vijay on September 27.
Advocate A.P. Suryaprakasam, 73, who belongs to the Congress, has filed the review/recall petition on the ground that the order had been obtained by misleading the court. The lawyer said, the court order was passed on a writ petition filed by P.H. Dinesh of Villivakkam in Chennai but inquiries made by him revealed it was a fictitious person.
‘Petitioner fictitious’
“From my enquiry, I came to know that very existence of the writ petitioner is doubtful as the address given by the petitioner that he is residing at Babu Nagar in Villivakkam, Chennai is utterly false as there is no such Babu Nagar in existence at Villivakkam, Chennai,” he claimed in his affidavit.
Alleging a fraud had been played upon the court, the lawyer said, the Supreme Court in A.V. Pappaya Shastri versus Government of Andhra Pradesh (2007) had categorically held that any decree or order obtained by playing a fraud on the court should be considered as a nullity and non est in the eye of law.
The lawyer also accused the counsel for the writ petitioner as well as the law officers representing the State to have failed to bring it to the notice of principal seat of the High Court in Chennai that the writ petition ought to have been filed only before the Madurai Bench of the High Court since Karur falls under the latter’s jurisdiction.
“The State Government Law officers also wantonly failed to bring to the notice of this court that on the same day morning (i.e., on October 3, 2025) another litigant wanted to file a writ petition pertaining to the incident but a Division Bench (led by Justice P. Velmurugan)... directed the litigant to approach the Madurai Bench,” he said.
“Hence, it is crystal clear that both the petitioner and the respondents have obtained the order dated October 3 by playing a fraud upon this honourable court. Hence, to protect the majesty of law and in the interest of justice, the abovesaid order has to be immediately reviewed and recalled,” the advocate insisted.
He also impressed upon the need to prosecute the writ petitioner for having misled the court. The lawyer said, the writ petitioner had intentionally not made TVK as one of the respondents which had led to the court condemning the party, for having abandoned the stampede victims, without hearing its stand on the issue.
Also View: A visual timeline on how Karur stampede unfolded
“It is humbly prayed that this honourable court may be pleased to review and recall the order dated October 3, 2025... If not recalled, it will amount to miscarriage of justice,” the advocate added. Though the review petition had been filed in the High Court Registry, it is yet to be numbered.
Party action
The petitioner Mr. Suryaprakasam had recently criticised the appointment of Madras High Court retired judge Aruna Jagadeesan as the head of a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) constituted by the Tamil Nadu government for probing into the Karur stampede tragedy.
In response, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai had issued a show cause notice to the lawyer on October 1 seeking an explanation as to why action should not be initiated against him for having made such criticism.