Bengaluru stampede: Blame game breaks out between political class and police

While the police force in Karnataka, upset over the suspension of the Bengaluru Police Commissioner in connection with the stampede during the RCB victory celebrations on June 4, says that they are being made “scapegoats” by the political class, the latter is pointing to gaps in the handling of the events by the police. They claim that the government is being “singularly targeted”.

This has resulted in the police and political establishment being at loggerheads, trying to blame each other and building cases to buttress their respective claims. The blame game is playing out even as three probes — by a magistrate, a judicial inquiry commission, and a Special Investigation Team — are under way.

Within its right

“The government was within its rights to let the people celebrate the team’s victory in the city and join the celebrations. The police should have made adequate arrangements. Clearly, the deployment was not enough, and chaos ruled the city’s streets on June 4 and led to the loss of lives. It is fair to hold the police accountable, and it cannot be called scapegoating,” a senior Minister told The Hindu, defending the suspensions.

The Minister said the argument that there was lack of time to prepare and make adequate arrangements does not hold much water, as it has now come to light that for all three events that were proposed — felicitation of the team on the grand steps of the Vidhana Soudha, a victory parade of the team, and celebrations at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium — the organisers had approached the police even before the final match was played on June 3. “The city police had ample time to prepare,” he said.

However, the police have argued that following the match, victory celebrations on the streets of Bengaluru broke into a fan frenzy and their personnel were on the roads ensuring safety till 4.30 a.m. on June 4. “Neither was there time to prepare for the next day’s event, nor the mindspace. The personnel were extremely tired. Though we flagged this, seeking more time to prepare and that the celebrations be postponed to Sunday, our advice was rejected,” a senior police official said.

Another senior government functionary pointed out that as early as June 4 noon, the city police, while announcing that there would be no victory parade, had announced the stadium event. “In the suo motu FIR they registered on June 5, the police claim they had refused permission to the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) for the event at the stadium, though not in writing. Then why was there a police security deployment at the stadium, and why did they announce the event by noon?” he questioned, adding that the security deployment at the stadium was woefully inadequate for the crowds that gathered. He further said that the intelligence also failed to anticipate the crowd swell.

Conflicting commands

On the other hand, while the top political leadership of the State has reportedly claimed they were “unaware” of the stadium event, the police establishment has disputed it. Senior police officials counter this claim by saying that the absence of a clear political chain of command and interference by some functionaries in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and other Ministers, apart from the Home Minister and the Chief Minister, led to contrary directions going out to the police. “This was the primary reason for confusion and chaos,” said an officer.

Published - June 07, 2025 08:45 pm IST