On 3 June, Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 final, ending an 18-year trophy drought for Virat Kohli’s side. It was supposed to be a moment of ecstasy for the millions of RCB fans who stood by their team through multiple heartbreaks, but that moment of joy soon turned into a national tragedy.
A stampede during RCB’s victory celebration at Bengaluru claimed the lives of 11 people and injured some 47 others. The list of deceased individuals includes six teenagers, with the oldest being only 29 years old.
The aftermath of the incident has been quite murky, with political mud-slinging and the shifting of blame having started in full force. Let’s try to decode what happened, when it happened, and most importantly, why it happened during the Bengaluru stampede on 4 June.
Bengaluru Stampede Timeline In Full
The victory parade organised by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, from the outset, was marred by mismanagement and haste. The M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the bus parade was meant to be concluded, could hold only 35,000 people. Based on the number of people who celebrated RCB’s win on the streets of Bengaluru, there was no way that the capacity would be enough to hold the crowd.
Bengaluru police officials later claimed that they had requested both the RCB management and the Karnataka government to delay the event, possibly to next Sunday, when fan emotions would not be so high.
Both allegedly declined. RCB’s foreign players were itching to leave the country to attend their national team squads, having already been delayed due to the league’s earlier suspension. A victory parade without key foreign players, such as Phil Salt, wouldn’t have made much sense.
The government, for its part, allegedly wanted to use the event as a display of soft power and get some mileage out of it. That is nothing out of the ordinary in India. In fact, while the parade was in its final stage at Chinnaswamy, another felicitation event was going on at Vidhana Soudha, the place about 1 km away where it all started.
The felicitation was attended by big political leaders, including the Governor Chand Gehlot, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar. The rush was to conduct everything on the same day to milk public emotions.
So, the crowds gathered, in thousands, and then in lakhs. An estimated 2.5 lakh people allegedly gathered in front of the Chinnaswamy gates. According to media reports, although the event was initially intended to be pass-only, it was later opened to the public, resulting in massive crowds gathering at the 13 stadium gates.
So, when the stadium was filled to the brim and the police tried to turn away those outside, some climbed up the gates, walls, trees, and anything else they could find to jump inside. Some managed, but most did not.
As the crowd’s strength grew, the heat, humidity, and claustrophobia started taking their toll on the younger members. As per a report by the Hindu, kids had already started fainting when reports came of the first death from suffocation at around 4:30 PM – an hour after the event started.
Police could not make their way inside the crowds, ambulances could not enter, and neither could cabs and rickshaws. Public transport was almost non-existent, the report said. The panic grew, and people started to leave Cubbon Park with any and every means possible.
Inside the Chinnaswamy, however, the party went on. Fans cheered as players like Kohli and Rajat Patidar gave speeches and engaged in a victory lap. 타이산카지노 eventually poured in about what was happening outside, and everything was hastily shut down.
Death Toll Comes In For RCB Victory Parade
As the dust settled on the afternoon’s events, the news started coming in. At least 11 people had died, media houses reported, and the number of injuries kept increasing to 47, some reports saying over 50. People were still gathered outside, searching for their kids and other family members.
By evening, all but two of the injured had been released from hospitals. However, 11 people, mostly students who were there to cheer on their favourite team, and favourite player, on winning a long-awaited title, never returned home.
Then, the condolences started pouring in. The political accusations were almost instantaneous, with the Central government accusing the state government of trying to conduct an event without proper management. Calls for the Chief Minister’s resignation was prominent.
Deputy CM Shivakumar’s initial reaction was to clarify that the government had allotted 5,000 police officials to manage the crowd, which he termed “uncontrollable”. After all, you “can’t use lathi charge on the young vibrant crowd,” the minister said.
He later changed his tone, asking everyone to stay inside. “The people who were supposed to be part of the celebration of RCB’s IPL victory have instead become victims of a tragedy, which is deeply saddening and shocking,” Shivakumar said. “ My condolences to those who lost their lives. I extend my sympathies to their families.”
The CM’s personal aide, Naseer Ahmed, said that “nobody could visualise” that such a large number of people would have turned up. The Deputy CM and CM later visited the victims at the hospital, and the government later announced that it would bear the full medical costs of each victim, along with an INR 5 lakh assistance.
The President paid her condolences for the victims of the “shocking and heartbreaking” incident, as did Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The mishap in Bengaluru is absolutely heartrending. In this tragic hour, my thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that those who are injured have a speedy recovery,” he said.
The cricketing community, too, gave statements ranging from condolences to self-esculpation.
BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia called the incident “a negative side of popularity”, adding that people are “crazy” about cricketers. “When one organises a victory celebration of this magnitude, proper precautions, safety and security measures need to be taken. There have been some lapses somewhere,” he added, before giving examples of the smooth events at Kolkata and Mumbai in earlier editions.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru, heavily criticised for continuing with their celebrations despite the tragedy unfolding outside, released a statement of condolence, saying, “The unfortunate incident in Bengaluru yesterday has caused a lot of anguish and pain to the RCB family.”
Along with this, the IPL team announced a “financial support of INR 10 lakh each to the eleven families of the deceased”, as well as a fund – RCB Cares – for supporting the fans. The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), under fire for its mismanagement, also pledged INR 5 lakh to each deceased’s family.
Bangalore Victims Get Judicial Support
At the end of 4 June, it was clear that something unprecedented had happened. The Karnataka High Court, for its part, took suo motu cognisance of the matter and issued a directive to the state government to file a status report by 10 June. The government, in turn, assured the judiciary that the CID would investigate the incident.
A new SOP for all “mega events” would be formulated, State Home Minister G Parameshwara said.
Meanwhile, the Bengaluru Police, on its own volition, filed a case against RCB, the KSCA, and event management company DNA Entertainment on Wednesday. RCB were also to be probed for a social media post they made on 4 June, declaring a victory parade in the city.
The government, meanwhile, suspended a number of top police officials, including the police commissioner and his deputy. The Chief Minister also promised action against RCB and the KSCA.
On Friday morning, Cricbuzz reported that that RCB’s Head of Marketing and Revenue, Nikhil Sosale, was arrested from the airport, and two senior members of the DNA Entertianment Network were also arrested by the Bengaluru police.
The Bengaluru stampede will go down in Indian sporting history as one of the darkest and most fatal chapters, and what happens next, and whether those responsible are adjudged and punished, remains to be seen as the matter is developing. Till then, all we can do is pay our condolences to all victims, and pray that something like this never happens again.
