Chennai, 30 Sept

Noted Tamil YouTuber Felix Gerald was arrested on Tuesday for "spreading rumours" over the Karur Vijay rally stampede incident which claimed 41 lives and injured over 60, police said.

The arrest comes close on the heels of police registering cases against at least 20 people for allegedly spreading rumours over thestampede and following the arrest of three persons.

Gerald runs a YouTube channel featuring content in Tamil on current topics.

Meanwhile, a special police team arrested a Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) functionary Pounraj for allegedly harbouring party office-bearer Mathialagan, a key accused in the stampede case, who has already been arrested.

Mathialagan was among the three TVK office bearers named in the FIR on the stampede incident.

TVK state general secretary Bussy Anand and party deputy general secretary Nirmal Kumar are the other two party office bearers named in the FIR.

The three TVK functionaries have been booked under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 125 (endangering life of others), and 223 (disobedience to order), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act, 1992, has also been levelled against them, a police official said.

According to the FIR, TVK chief Vijay"deliberately" reached late at Velusamypuram in Karur district, leading to overcrowding and restlessness among the people, gathered to attend his rally on 27 September. 

The stampede occurred after the crowd surged forward to have a closer glimpse of Vijay, the police said, adding that the narrow venue hardly afforded space for so many people, resulting in trampling. Police resorted to a lathi-charge in a bid to restore order. Many who fainted at the venue were rushed to the Karur government hospital.

According to the FIR, the crowd climbed over steel sheds and trees to get a better view, and when these collapsed, they fell on the crowd below, resulting in the fatal stampede. Several persons died due to suffocation and crush injuries, the FIR said.

Following the tragedy, Vijay was advised against visiting the government hospital here as his presence might cause crowding at the hospital premises, the TVK source said.

 "Initially, he had planned to visit the injured and console them, but was informed that his presence might cause further crowding," a senior TVK leader said.