From cheers to chaos: 14-year-old young fan dies, caught off guard at RCB's victory celebration

BENGALURU: After watching the IPL final late into Tuesday night, a 14-year-old girl from Yelahanka, Bengaluru, wanted to see her cricketing heroes in person. The girl, who had just begun a new academic year as a class 9 student at Poorna Pragna School in Yelahanka, went to Chinnaswamy Stadium along with her mother, aunt and grandaunt.

And what was to be an extended celebration of her favourite team’s long-eluded title victory ended in tragedy Wednesday morning.The girl’s maternal grandfather Lakshminarayan, standing outside Bowring Hospital, was trying hard to make sense of the turn of events. Dimple, as the girl was fondly called at home, had planned the day with her family members — a day to be filled with joy.“Around 10am, my elder daughter (Dimple’s mother) told me they wanted to directly witness RCB victory celebrations,” he said.

“Initially, I advised them against going. Later, I told them to be safe and cautious if they, indeed, go. Little did we reckon that Dimple’s life would be cut short so suddenly, so brutally and so tragically.”At the stadium, where the four women members of the family were eagerly waiting for cricketers to arrive, there was a sudden and frightening surge in the number of people storming into the stadium. All hell broke loose in the blink of an eye, with people began pushing, screaming and running helter-skelter.

A stampede occurred, and Dimple was caught in it.Lakshminarayan said, “My younger daughter called me and told me to rush to Bowring Hospital. When I asked her ‘why’, she didn’t say anything. She kept crying. I wondered if something untoward had happened. People trampled upon my granddaughter. She was stuck underfoot. They somehow rushed her to Bowring Hospital. But it was too late, and we lost our Dimple.”Her family had been proud of Dimple’s academic achievements, her cheerful nature and her excitement for the new school year. “They went to see cricketers and to be part of happiness. We never imagined this,” the grieving grandfather said.