Bengaluru stampede LIVE: City police commissioner suspended; 2 probes ordered

Confusion over the victory parade, free passes, overcrowding and limited seats at the Chinnaswamy Stadium are said to be some of the major reasons that led to Wednesday’s stampede.

The initial chaos that later turned into a stampede began as several cricket enthusiasts who did not have entry tickets to the stadium tried to swarm into the premises along with those who had valid tickets, sources in the police told news agency PTI.

During the chaos, some people fell on the ground, some got injured while trying to scale huge gates to gain entry into the stadium.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased were youths, including men and women, with several of them were students.

Noting that the stadium has a capacity for 35,000 people, but 2-3 lakh people had come, he said, “The match happened last evening (Tuesday) and today this event was organised by the cricket association, so no one had expected that so many people would come. The expectation was the equivalent number of people for the stadium's capacity or slightly more than that may gather.”

Explaining what exactly led to the chaos and stampede, the chief minister said, “There are small gates. The people entered through the gates. They have broken the gates also, so a stampede has taken place. Nobody had expected so much of a crowd to come. Prima facie looks like that. I'm not saying nothing has happened. The inquiry will bring out facts.”

The Bengaluru Traffic Police at 11.56 am on Wednesday announced that there would not be a victory parade but only a felicitation function at the stadium.

However, the RCB team’s management at 3.14 pm announced that they would hold a victory parade at 5 pm. “Victory Parade will be followed by celebrations at the Chinnaswamy stadium. We request all fans to follow guidelines set by police and other authorities so that everyone can enjoy the roadshow peacefully. Free passes (limited entry) available on shop.royalchallengers.com,” it said in a post on X.

This left the fans confused about whether a parade would be conducted or not.

Police sources said that even though they had made it clear that no victory parade would be held and that those with tickets would only be allowed to enter the stadium, fans in large numbers gathered outside the stadium and many among them also jumped the gates to gain entry.

“While those with valid tickets were allowed to enter the stadium for celebrations many tried to squeeze with those who had free passes and tickets. In that bid to get entry, some of them also started pushing each other,” a police officer said.

According to the police, around 50,000 people were within a 1-kilometre radius and the number just kept increasing.

Siddaramaiah said that people and fans had gathered beyond their expectations. In front of Vidhana Soudha, more than 1 lakh people had gathered and there was no untoward incident there, but at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, the tragedy happened.

“No one had expected it, neither the cricket association nor the government,” he said.

Police used mild force to control the large crowd and in some of the visuals, police personnel were also seen using lathis to disperse fans.

Soon after, the Bengaluru Metro also announced that trains would not stop at Cubbon Park and Dr BR Ambedkar stations due to the heavy footfall.

The BJP has slammed the Congress government in Karnataka and asked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister G Parameshwara to own responsibility.

Karnataka BJP chief BY Vijayendra accused the Siddaramaiah government of pressuring the police and organising celebrations without any preparedness and adequate police deployment.

“Is it not the responsibility of the state government to be prepared? Were they not aware that lakhs and lakhs of people will come to the celebrations?” Vijayendra said in Bengaluru.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi held the Karnataka government responsible for the incident and demanded that responsibility be fixed.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla targeted the state government, blaming “state-sponsored negligence” for the loss of lives.

“Nothing short of state-sponsored negligence, state-sponsored callousness, state-sponsored murder,” Poonawalla alleged, adding, “This is the true face of the Congress in Karnataka.”

Another BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari charged the Karnataka government with “criminal negligence”.

Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that the Congress government should take full responsibility for the stampede and alleged that lack of proper planning and “complete failure” to take precautionary measures led to this unfortunate incident.

Senior BJP leader R Ashoka demanded resignations of Karnataka Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar following the stampede.

He said there was no doubt that the deaths occurred in the stampede near Chinnaswamy Stadium were “state-sponsored murders”.

“There are suspicions that the hidden fight between the CM Siddaramaiah and the DCM DK Shivakumar has turned into a credit war, leading to today’s chaos,” he alleged in a post on X.