A significant petition has been lodged with the Madras High Court, urging it to revoke its October 3, 2025 order. This previous order had established a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the Karur stampede, an incident that tragically claimed 41 lives during a political campaign led by actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president C. Joseph Vijay on September 27.
Advocate A.P. Suryaprakasam, a 73-year-old member of the Congress party, has filed this review/recall petition. His primary argument is that the original order was obtained through deceptive means and that the individual named as the writ petitioner, P.H. Dinesh of Villivakkam in Chennai, is a fictitious person.
‘Petitioner Fictitious’
“My inquiries reveal that the very existence of the writ petitioner is doubtful. The address provided, Babu Nagar in Villivakkam, Chennai, is entirely false, as no such locality exists in Villivakkam,” the advocate stated in his affidavit.
Alleging that a deliberate fraud was perpetrated on the court, Mr. Suryaprakasam referenced the Supreme Court’s ruling in A.V. Pappaya Shastri versus Government of Andhra Pradesh (2007), which unequivocally declared that any decree or order secured through fraud should be deemed null and void in the eyes of the law.
Furthermore, the advocate accused both the counsel for the original writ petitioner and the State’s law officers of failing to inform the High Court’s principal bench in Chennai that the petition should have been filed before the Madurai Bench, as Karur falls within its jurisdiction.
“It is abundantly clear that the petitioner and the respondents conspired to obtain the order dated October 3 by defrauding this honorable court. Therefore, to uphold the sanctity of law and ensure justice, the aforementioned order must be immediately reviewed and recalled,” the advocate asserted. He also stressed the necessity of prosecuting the original writ petitioner for misleading the court. Mr. Suryaprakasam pointed out that the writ petitioner intentionally omitted to name TVK as a respondent, leading the court to condemn the party for abandoning stampede victims without hearing their side of the story.
“It is humbly prayed that this honorable court may be pleased to review and recall the order dated October 3, 2025… Failure to do so would result in a grave miscarriage of justice,” the advocate concluded. Although the review petition has been lodged with the High Court Registry, it is yet to be formally numbered.
Party Action
Notably, Mr. Suryaprakasam had previously voiced criticism regarding the appointment of retired Madras High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan to head a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) established by the Tamil Nadu government to investigate the Karur stampede tragedy.
In response to his criticism, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. Selvaperunthagai issued a show cause notice to Mr. Suryaprakasam on October 1, demanding an explanation as to why disciplinary action should not be initiated against him for his remarks.