Bengaluru stampede: Karnataka govt’s report to HC blames RCB’s ‘unilateral’ decision

The Karnataka government, in its report to the high court on the June 4 stampede in Bengaluru the day after the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) became the Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, said RCB invited people for the victory parade “unilaterally, without consultation/permission from the city police”.

Eleven people lost their lives and more than 50 people were injured in the tragedy in the city.

The government has made the report public, after the court refused its request to keep the report confidential, saying there are no legal grounds for such confidentiality.

‘Only intimation was given’

The report said that the RCB management on June 3 only informed the police about a possible victory parade.

“It was in the nature of an intimation, not a requisition for permission as required under the law,” says the report. It goes on to say that such permissions must be sought at least seven days before the event.

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According to the report, no applications in the prescribed format were submitted to the licensing authority by the applicant/ organiser, and therefore, the PI of the Cubbon Park Police Station did not grant permission to the request made by KSCA on 03.06.2025 at around 6.30 pm “due to a lack of information regarding the expected approximate gathering, arrangements made, possible bottlenecks, and the like…”

‘Cops not consulted on public invite’

The report says RCB made several posts on its official social media handles, without consulting the police, at 7.01 am, 8 am, 8.55 am, and 3.14 pm on June 4 informing the public about free entry for people and inviting them to participate in the victory parade that would begin at Vidhana Soudha and end at Chinnaswamy Stadium.

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It said the post at 3.14 pm mentioned “for the first and only time, that free passes (limited entry) were available on shop.royalchallengers.com”, and that until this point, there had been no information about the disbursement of passes, implying that the event was open to all based on RCB’s prior posts.

Huge crowd

The report went on to say that the RCB posts on social media received combined views of 44 lakhs, “which led to a public gathering of immense proportions, exceeding 3,00,000 individuals”.

In addition to the crowd that had congregated in and around the Chinnaswamy Stadium, a large number of people were also waiting along the roads from HAL Airport to Taj West End Hotel, a distance of about 14 kms, to catch a glimpse of the team members as they went from the airport to their hotel.

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Video clips of the crowds went viral, leading to even more people going to the venues.

“This impromptu gathering of crowds on the roads necessitated the urgent deployment of large numbers of police personnel along the route, in addition to those required at the stadium and surrounding areas. This situation arose due to a lack of proper planning by the Organisers and the failure to provide the necessary information in advance to the concerned authorities,” said the report.

What led to stampede

According to the report, around 3 pm on that day, there was a sudden surge of people near the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and about 3 lakh people gathered in the limited space, far above the stadium’s capacity of 35,000.

RCB’s post on social media at 3.14 pm, “for the first time and belatedly” that entry to the stadium needed limited pass entry, created “confusion, frustration, and chaos among the public who had already gathered at the stadium and were in high emotions”, the report alleged.

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The situation deteriorated further when the organisers failed to open the gates at the appropriate time and in an unsynchronised manner that prompted the crowd to force their way into the stadium by breaking open Gate Nos. 1, 2, and 21, “due to complete mismanagement by the organisers”.

The report said that there were sporadic stampedes, and in every instance, “the police personnel responded immediately and effectively to regain control and deescalate the situation”.

‘Tactical decision’

The report said the event was not called off due to concerns that abruptly shutting down the victory celebrations at the stadium could potentially incite violence among the crowd and affect law and order adversely across the city.

“This tactical decision considered the evolving ground situation, crowd psychology, the massive scale of gathering, and the information asymmetry amongst the assembled masses. The risk of large-scale rioting necessitated this careful balancing approach,” said the report.

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The report concluded by saying that it is known in law and order situations that cancellation of anticipated events can incite the crowd tremendously and lead to widespread mob violence.