India, Sept. 29 -- Hari Vishnu's family was inconsolable with grief on Sunday. His father struggled to fight back tears and his mother, who has a speech and hearing disability, laid motionless and emotionless on the floor.

Vishnu, all of 18 months old, was the youngest of the 40 people who were killed in a stampede during actor-politician Vijay's political rally in Tamil Nadu's Karur district on Saturday. His aunt had taken him to the actor's rally where a massive crowd had gathered on the main road at Velusamy Nagar in Karur. Vishnu's aunt lives in Velusamy Nagar.

"All of our family members who went to the rally are in the government hospital, my grandson died right here," Vishnu's grandmother Jayashri said. "My son (Vimal) saw my gran...