Bengaluru stampede: ‘Everything that could go wrong, went wrong’

RCB fans who gathered outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium to celebrate the team’s victory in IPL 2025 on in Bengaluru on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: File Photo. Murali Kumar K

Everything that could go wrong seems to have gone wrong at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here, where lakhs converged to catch a glimpse of the RCB team on Wednesday afternoon.

Even as the city police claimed that Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) conducted the event at the stadium despite being denied police permission, it has come to light that the security deployment at the venue was inadequate and senior officials in charge were not present on site when the stampede occurred, sources said. 

Two permissions

In a suo motu FIR registered at Cubbon Park Police Station on Thursday, the police claimed that on the evening of June 3, the KSCA authorities approached them seeking permission to hold a celebratory event if RCB won the IPL title, but their request was denied.

Similarly, the State government, on the evening of June 3rd, sought police permission to hold a felicitation for the team on the grand steps of the Vidhana Soudha if RCB won the championship, and it was granted.

Police, however, said that despite the denial of permission, RCB management took to social media on Wednesday morning announcing a victory parade, exhorting fans to congregate. 

Police deployment

Meanwhile, in a submission made by the State government to the High Court during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition, the government said that as against a usual deployment of 789 personnel at the stadium during IPL cricket matches, they had deployed 1,318 personnel, including four companies of the Karnataka State Reserve Police Force (KSRP).

While the deployment was over 67% higher than usual, it proved to be woefully inadequate compared to the strength of the crowd that gathered.

Usually, a match has a crowd size of around 35,000. However, the crowd at the stadium on Wednesday is estimated to be around 2.5 lakh.

Around 3.30 p.m., the stadium gates were opened and people were let in, but the gates were shut once the stadium was full. People in lakhs demanded to be let inside a stadium with a seating capacity of only 32,000, causing a commotion that further led to a stampede.

When crowds merged

“There was ample scope to mobilise more forces from within Bengaluru and also the surrounding districts to be deployed at the stadium, but it was not done. The size of the crowd that gathered at the stadium was clearly underestimated. Moreover, the crowd that gathered in front of the Vidhana Soudha moved and joined those around the stadium. Ideally, there should have been barricading and the two crowds should not have been allowed to merge,” said a senior police official who was not part of the arrangements on Wednesday. 

Many senior police officers have also been puzzled as to why there was no bid to disperse the mob around the stadium that was thrusting at the closed stadium gates.

Officials absent on scene

Multiple sources within the city police stated that the senior official responsible for security at the stadium was not present at the scene when the stampede occurred, but was instead at the Vidhana Soudha.

“With no senior jurisdictional officers at the spot, a decision to lathicharge and disperse the mob was not taken in time,” a senior official said.

The magisterial inquiry into the lapses in security will now ascertain the specific duties assigned to officers, their locations throughout the day, and the discharge of their duties, according to sources. 

Published - June 05, 2025 11:13 pm IST