The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain the DMK's plea alleging that Tamil Nadu ministers were influencing witnesses in the Karur stampede case, while also pulling up the party for questioning Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay's planned meeting with the victims' families.
A partial working day bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and Alok Aradhe asked the DMK as to how can the court regulate the visit of the executive head.
The bench asked the DMK, represented by senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, how visiting stampede victims amounts to influencing witnesses.
Vijay is scheduled to meet the families of the stampede victims on July 10.
The court told Kumar that the DMK may wish to withdraw its plea and avail any other remedy under law or else the court will dismiss it.
Kumar agreed to withdraw the plea with liberty to approach any other forum.
The top court dismissed the plea as withdrawn.
DMK secretary RS Bharati had filed the plea seeking to restrain the Tamil Nadu chief minister, state minister Aadhav Arjuna and other accused people from making public statements on the case and to regulate their interaction with victims' families during the pendency of the CBI probe.
The plea referred to reports that the chief minister is scheduled to visit Karur to distribute government orders, compassionate appointments and other benefits to the families of the deceased and injured victims.
Bharathi, who has sought impleadment in a pending case, submitted that several people initially chargesheeted in the case were now ministers in the Tamil Nadu Cabinet following the 2026 assembly elections.
On October 13 last year, the top court ordered a CBI probe into the stampede in which 41 people were killed, saying the incident had shaken the national conscience and deserved a fair and impartial investigation.
(With inputs from PTI)