Bengaluru deaths: RCB, others booked, top cop suspended

The Karnataka Police on Thursday booked Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), event management firm DNA Entertainment Private Limited, and the administrative panel of the state cricket association for culpable homicide, unlawful assembly and assault over the deaths of 11 people ahead of a celebration marking the city team’s maiden IPL title a day ago. A combative Siddaramaiah appeared at a press conference on Thursday and announced that five police officers will be suspended.(PTI)

Chief minister Siddaramaiah announced a judicial probe and said that five police officers, including the city’s top cop B Dayananda, were suspended as anger mounted over the tragic deaths at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Wednesday afternoon, and questions swirled about lax arrangements, lack of permission and the role of the marque franchise that allegedly pressed on with a victory parade despite being warned.

Many of these questions came from the Karnataka high court, which took cognisance of the tragedy and asked the government to submit a status report.

“The stampede incident…was due to RCB franchise, DNA, and KSCA administrative committee giving permission for the program and arranging the program at KSCA stadium without adequate arrangements for the program, without adequate security for fans to enter peacefully, without balanced arrangements for fans,” said the first information report in Kannada, filed at the Cubbon Park police station.

“Additionally, thousands of fans gathered around the stadium due to RCB’s official posts on social media and social networking sites providing misleading information about free entry for the public at gates, leading to fan gatherings. This incident occurred due to this reason,” the FIR, which HT has seen, added.

The police invoked sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 118 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by using dangerous weapons or means), 121 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 190 (liability of members of an unlawful assembly for offences committed in pursuit of a common object), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging their duty), and 125 (12) (acts endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

A combative Siddaramaiah appeared at a press conference hours later, announcing that five police officers — police chief B Dayananda, Bengaluru (west) ACP Vikash Kumar Vikash, Bengaluru (central) DCP Shekar H Tekkannavar, Cubbon Park ACP C Balakrishna and inspector AK Girish — will be suspended and a one-man judicial commission headed by retired high court judge Michael D’Cunha will submit a report in 30 days.

“FIRs have been registered, and instructions have been issued to arrest the representatives of these organisations,” Siddaramaiah said.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was tasked with carrying out a parallel investigation into the role of these three entities. “Since I became an MLA, minister, deputy CM, and now CM, no such incident has occurred. This tragedy has shaken us deeply,” he added.

But the Opposition continued to gun for his resignation. “CM Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar are directly responsible for the tragic stampede,” said Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka.

The tragedy occurred on Wednesday afternoon as hundreds of thousands of people thronged the Chinnaswamy stadium, hoping to catch a glimpse of their cricket heroes who had won their first IPL trophy the previous night. The team landed at the HAL airport at 2.45pm, and were received by Shivakumar. The first felicitation ceremony was organised by the state government at the Vidhana Soudha around 4.30pm.

But by then, pandemonium had already broken out outside the stadium. As crowds swelled ahead of the 6pm event – RCB had announced a victory parade and limited entry free passes – the police closed all gates. At this point, around 250,000 fans had gathered, threatening to burst through the barricades, climbing over cars and climbing trees.

The first deaths were reported around 3.30pm.Only two ambulances were present and 1,318 policemen were deployed, the government told the high court on Thursday. In comparison, around 5,000 were deployed for the 2024 World Cup victory parade in Mumbai. The crush led to four deaths at Gate 7, two at Gate 6, one at Gate 1, and four more between Gates 17 and 21, the government told the court.

In all, 11 people died and 56 others were injured. All the dead people were under 30, and included a 14-year-old girl, an engineering student, a Yakshagana performer, a civil engineer and a chartered accountant.

“They said entry was free, so why didn’t they open all the gates?” asked Ashwini, the mother of 14-year-old Divyanshi.

The FIR said the first intimation of a victory celebration came at 6pm on June 3, even before the first ball had been bowled at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, when RCB CEO Shubhash Ghante allegedly asked for a victory celebration programme to be held at the Chinnaswamy Stadium the next day.

A meeting of senior police officials concluded that the event should not be permitted, citing inadequate notice, unpreparedness for crowd control, and public inconvenience, the FIR said. Despite the advisory, the organisers allegedly went ahead with the event.

The FIR said that the Vidhana Soudha event passed off peacefully but at Chinnaswamy Stadium, the organisers “failed to make decisions about allowing fans inside the stadium” and closed the gates from the inside at 3.10pm. It also confirmed that the programme began inside the stadium at 5.45pm – long after the first body was taken to a city hospital.

“DNA, KSCA administrative committee, and RCB franchise failed to take proper decisions about M. Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium entry at the right time, causing confusion among thousands of RCB fans, leading to thousands of fans gathering uncontrollably, attempting to break barriers set up by police for entry, ignoring police advice and not following instructions, pushing police and causing injuries, disrupting public traffic, causing 11 deaths,” the FIR said.

RCB,KSCA and DNA did not respond to requests seeking comment on the matter.

In the high court, a bench headed by acting chief justice V Kameshwar Rao and justice CM Joshi took suo motu cognisance of the death and asked the state whether permissions had were sought to organise such celebrations, whether a standard operating procedure existed for managing crowds above 50,000, and if immediate medical help was extended.

The bench directed the government to file a comprehensive status report addressing nine specific questions by June 10. Advocate general Shashi Kiran Shetty admitted that the crowd outside the stadium was in a state of “frenzy”. “Each person thought they would only be one more,” said Shetty.

But the court was unmoved. “When and who took the decision to hold the celebration, and how it was to be conducted? What traffic and crowd regulation measures were in place? Whether medical arrangements were made in advance and whether those injured were given timely medical attention?” the court asked.

In response, Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara announced that the state would frame a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to ensure better management of large public gatherings. “We will give instructions that from now on any mega events, meetings and celebrations, should be held within the framework of the directions issued by the police department,” he said.

Click here to read article