Three days after a stampede at actor-politician Vijay’s rally in Karur killed 41 people, the Tamil Nadu government fielded its top civil servants and police officers on Tuesday evening to push back against the swirl of conspiracy theories, allegations of mismanagement, and rising anger from the star’s supporters.

At a press conference in Chennai , Additional Chief Secretary P Amudha, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Davidson Devasirvatham, and Health Secretary P Senthilkumar presented a detailed defence of the administration’s handling of the tragedy. Their remarks came just hours after Vijay released a video statement – mournful yet defiant – in which he accused the government of targeting his party cadre and directly challenged Chief Minister M K Stalin to arrest

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