Karnataka HC poses 9 questions to govt on Bengaluru stampede: ‘Who took decision to hold RCB celebration?’

The Karnataka High Court has posed a set of nine questions to the Congress government in the state over the stampede at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru that resulted in 11 deaths during a felicitation for the IPL-winning Royal Challengers Bengaluru team on Wednesday.

Among the key questions that the high court posed on Thursday and sought answers for by June 10 are: Who decided to hold the victory celebration? In what manner and when? Was any permission sought to organise the event? And whether any SOP (standard operating procedure) has been formulated to manage a crowd of 50,000 and above in any sports event and celebrations of this nature?

The questions were posed by a division bench headed by acting Chief Justice V Kameswar Rao and Justice C M Joshi in the course of a suo motu writ petition taken up by the court regarding the cricket stadium tragedy in Bengaluru.

The other questions the high court posed were:

* What steps were taken to regulate the traffic?

* What steps were taken to regulate the public/crowd?

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* What medical and other facilities were arranged at the venue?

* Any assessment was made in advance on the number of people, who may be present at the time of celebrations?

* Whether persons injured were given immediate medical attention by the medical experts at the venue? If not why?

* How much time was taken to take the injured to the hospitals?

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The high court’s suo motu petition and questions posed by it reportedly triggered the suspensions of five police officers, including the Bengaluru police commissioner, on June 6 following consultations by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with his legal advisor A S Ponnana and the state Advocate General K M Shashikiran Shetty, as per sources.

The events that led to the tragedy

The flow of events leading to the tragedy as analysed from communications between the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and the government, the social media timelines of RCB handles and the Bengaluru traffic police, as well as statements made in police FIRs suggest that the cricket association sought permission on June 3 for an event for felicitation of the RCB cricket by the CM and deputy CM at the government headquarters, Vidhana Soudha, on June 4 in the event of RCB winning the IPL finals against Punjab Super Kings.

KSCA CEO Shubhendu Ghosh wrote to the government’s Department of Personnel and Administration (DPAR) — the custodians of the Vidhana Soudha — on June 3 on behalf of event management firm DNA Network for permission for a felicitation of RCB players at the Vidhana Soudha.

The DPAR responded on the morning of June 4 granting permission for the event by laying down as many as 16 conditions to protect the portals of the Vidhana Soudha, where the event would be held on the evening of June 4, with Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar attending.

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Siddaramaiah’s political secretary, K Govindaraju, an MLC and ambitious sports administrator who was sacked on Saturday, is alleged to have influenced the decision-making at the highest levels in the government to hold the Vidhana Soudha event.

Even as the 4 pm Vidhana Soudha event was cleared by the government, the Bengaluru police—the sanctioning authority—had not granted permission for a victory parade from the Vidhana Soudha to the Chinnaswamy Stadium for RCB fans due to crowd control fears.

Although no official permission was granted by the police, the RCB management went on to unilaterally announce a victory parade at 7.01 am on the morning of June 4, triggering a fan frenzy.

The RCB/KSCA also sent out a media advisory around 10.30 am on June 4 saying there would be a felicitation by Siddaramaiah at the Vidhana Soudha at 4 pm, a victory parade around 5 pm, and a felicitation at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium at 6 pm.

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The Bengaluru traffic police timeline on X shows that two traffic advisories were put out around 2.45 pm and 3.30 pm about the felicitation at the Chinnaswamy stadium at 5 pm, with no mention of a victory parade.

The Karnataka government, while suspending five police officers, stated that though the RCB CEO informed the Bengaluru police commissioner on June 3 about holding the victory parade and celebrations on June 4, the police failed to give a written reply to the organisers “rejecting the permission”.

A suo motu FIR filed in the Cubbon Park police station by the now-suspended police inspector A K Girish over the stadium deaths says Ghosh approached the police on June 3 for an event at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on behalf of RCB.

The Bengaluru police, who registered the FIR on June 5 for culpable homicide, causing voluntary hurt and unlawful assembly against the RCB, the KSCA, and DNA Network, arrested an RCB marketing head and a senior DNA official on Friday.

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Karnataka HC gives interim protection from arrest to KSCA officials

Meanwhile, on Friday, the Karnataka High Court granted conditional interim protection from arrest to three KSCA officials, including president Raghuram Bhat, a former cricketer, in the stadium deaths case.

The KSCA officials claimed in their high court petition that DNA officials held a meeting with Bengaluru police on June 3 on holding the celebration event if RCB won. The petition also says that KSCA and DNA officials met Siddaramaiah and the state chief secretary for government support for the event to be held at the Vidhana Soudha.

“Celebrating the victory was in fact the call of the government as it felicitated the players at the Vidhana Soudha in the presence of the chief minister, deputy CM, and several cabinet ministers, with all the secretariat and police higher-ups being present,” states the KSCA petition.

Two inquiry commissions and a CID probe

The Karnataka government on Saturday issued an order for a judicial inquiry to be conducted into the stadium tragedy by Justice John Michael Cunha, a retired high court judge. The government has also directed a magisterial inquiry by the deputy commissioner for the Bengaluru region in his capacity as an executive magistrate.

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