Vijay leads mass protest in Chennai over custodial death of temple guard

UPDATED: Jul 13, 2025 11:38 IST

Actor-turned-politician Vijay is set to lead a massive protest in Chennai on Sunday demanding justice for Ajith Kumar, a 29-year-old temple guard who allegedly died due to police torture in custody in Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga.

Ajith Kumar, employed as a security guard at the Bhadrakaliamman temple in Tiruppuvanam, was picked up by police on June 27 for questioning in a jewellery theft case. By the next evening, he was declared "brought dead" at a government hospital. Police initially claimed he suffered an epileptic seizure.

However, a post-mortem report revealed 44 injuries and evidence of severe internal bleeding and trauma consistent with prolonged physical assault, supporting the family’s allegations of custodial torture.

The case triggered widespread outrage and heated up Tamil Nadu politics. Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) founder Vijay, in his first major protest since launching the party earlier this year, will take to the streets alongside hundreds of supporters and party workers to demand accountability from the DMK government.

The rally comes a day after he privately met 18 families who have faced custodial violence.

Earlier, the party blamed Chief Minister MK Stalin for systemic failures, alleging that “the police department is functioning cruelly, inhumanly, and immorally” under his charge.

Vijay’s protest in Chennai, backed by a large gathering of TVK cadres, is also seen as a strategic political moment for the actor-turned-politician, whose chief ministerial ambitions are no secret.

Amid mounting political and public pressure, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court took cognisance of the custodial death case, following which the Tamil Nadu government transferred the probe to the CBI. The probe agency on Saturday registered a murder case against six police personnel from Sivaganga.

The state government had also suspended six police officers involved, including the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Manamadurai, and transferred the district Superintendent of Police.

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