Bengaluru stampede: Karnataka govt blames RCB management for crowd surge that killed 11; cites Virat Kohli video | Bengaluru News

BENAGLURU: The Karnataka authorities has held the management of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) accountable for the lethal stampede that claimed 11 lives outdoors the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on 4 June. In a standing report submitted to the High Court, the state stated the RCB management, together with its occasion accomplice M/s DNA Networks Private Limited and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), “unilaterally decided to hold the victory celebration without prior consultation with the police and without obtaining the necessary permissions or licence for such celebrations.”

The report, dated 12 June, was ordered to be disclosed by the High Court in its order on 8 July. The authorities additionally famous that the RCB had posted a video clip of cricketer Virat Kohli as a part of its promotions for the parade and celebrations. According to the report, on 3 June at round 6:30pm, the CEO of KSCA submitted an intimation on behalf of DNA Networks to the Inspector of Police at Cubbon Park Police Station. The letter said that if RCB had been to win the IPL closing that night in Ahmedabad towards PBKS, the group supposed to organise a victory parade across the stadium. However, the police denied the request as a result of “insufficient information regarding the expected gathering size, arrangements made, possible bottlenecks, and the like, as well as the proposal being made on very short notice,” the report said. Despite this, the following morning at 7.01am on 4 June, RCB posted an invite on its official social media platforms asserting a victory parade from Vidhana Soudha to Chinnaswamy Stadium. A second publish at 8.00am reiterated the identical message. At 8.55am, RCB posted a video that includes Virat Kohli on its official deal with @RCBtweets, wherein he stated the group “intends to celebrate this victory with the people of Bengaluru and RCB fans on 04.06.2025 after the team returns to Bengaluru.” Later, at 3:14pm, one other publish was made asserting the timing of the parade—from 5:00pm to six:00pm—adopted by celebrations contained in the stadium. It was solely on this publish that RCB talked about restricted free passes had been accessible at store.royalchallengers.com. By then, nonetheless, crowds had already gathered in giant numbers, the report said. The authorities additionally famous the large on-line engagement with these posts, with the primary receiving 16 lakh views, the second 4.26 lakh views, the third 7.6 lakh, and the ultimate one 17 lakh views. “It is pertinent to note that a mere intimation was given by the organisers; there was no requisition for permissions in the prescribed format, nor was any necessary information provided to the concerned departments to anticipate the gathering and make adequate preparations,” the report added. The state cited the Licensing and Controlling of Assemblies and Processions (Bangalore City) Order, 2009, to underscore the procedural violations.