The Karnataka government has singled out the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and held the team management solely responsible for the chaos and stampede that occurred during the victory parade in Bengaluru on June 4.
The Karnataka government has made public its probe report on the stampede during the RCB victory parade on June 4 in Bengaluru. It charged that RCB invited the public for the victory parade "unilaterally," without consulting the Bengaluru Police.
According to the report submitted by the state government in the Karnataka High Court, accessed by NDTV, on the day of the IPL finals (June 3), RCB team members informed Bengaluru Police about a possible victory parade on June 4. "This was in the nature of an intimation, not a requisition for permission as required under the law," it said. As per procedure, permission must be sought at least seven days before the event.
The report said the Cubbon Park police inspector did not grant permission for the RCB event as the request was not in the prescribed format, and details regarding the expected crowd, possible bottlenecks, and other arrangements were not made available to authorities.
11 people died and 50 persons suffered injuries in the incident. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took part in the celebrations at Vidhan Soudha, and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar took part in the event at Chinnaswamy stadium.
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The report charged RCB invited the public through social media without informing the police. "On 04 June 2025, at 8.55am, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru shared a video clip of Mr. Virat Kohli, a prominent player of the RCB team, on RCB's official handle @Rcbtweets on Twitter, in which he stated that the team intended to celebrate this victory with the people of Bengaluru city and RCB fans on 04 June 2025 in Bengaluru," it said.
The social media posts garnered 44 lakh views online, and over 3 lakh people gathered to attend the event. RCB management said only once that there would be limited entry to the Chinnaswamy stadium. "Over 3 lakh people gathered outside Chinnaswamy stadium, a venue with a capacity of only 35,000 seats."
"As restless crowds gathered at the gates, the situation deteriorated further when the organisers/RCB/DNA/KSCA responsible for gate management failed to open the gates at the appropriate time and in an unsynchronised manner. This 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," NDTV reported, quoting the report.
The report said it was a tactical decision by the government not to call off the celebrations as it could have "adversely affected overall law and order situation in Bengaluru. "The risk of large-scale rioting both within the stadium premises and throughout Bengaluru necessitated this careful balancing approach, prioritising overall public safety over immediate event cessation. It is common and known in law & order situations that cancellation of anticipated events can incite the crowd tremendously and lead to widespread mob violence, as has been seen in several events where such decisions have been taken," it said.
