Karur, 28 Sept

The toll in the stampede here rose to 40 after a man succumbed to injuries at the government hospital, a health official said on Sunday.

As the toll mounted, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhaga party led by actor-politician Vijay moved the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai seeking an independentprobe into the Karur stampede.

Stopping short of alleging a conspiracy into the incident, TVK deputy General Secretary Nirmal Kumar told reporters that the party had approached the high court bench with a plea for an impartial inquiry into the incident.

"The judge agreed to hear the case tomorrow at 2.15 pm. We will make official our statement thereafter," he said.

Earlier in the day, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary P Senthil Kumar said 39 persons died and 67 persons were undergoing treatment as in-patients.

"In this unfortunate incident, 39 deaths have been reported--17 women, 13 men, 4 male children, and 5 female children. The postmortem has been done for 30 (out of 39 deceased) and the bodies have been handed over to their families," Senthil Kumar told reporters after visiting the patients at the GH.

On the admissions, he said 26 people were treated in the OPD and were discharged. And of the 67 admitted as in-patients, 2 were critical. All others were stable. One of the patients was shifted to the Madurai GH forfurther treatment.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF to be given to the kin of each deceased in the unfortunate incident. The injured would be given Rs 50,00, he said in a post on the social media platform 'X'.