RCB held the victory parade “unilaterally” without police approval, says govt report after stampede killed 11. HC made the report public, rejecting plea for secrecy.
Bengaluru: In a shocking revelation, the Karnataka government has informed the High Court that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) organised the IPL victory parade on June 4, 2025, “unilaterally” and “without consultation/ permission” from the Bengaluru police.
This mismanagement, as per the official report, led to a massive stampede that claimed 11 lives and injured over 50 people. The report was made public following the court’s direction, even though the state government wanted it to remain confidential.
The court ruled there were “no legal grounds” for keeping it secret.
As per the report, RCB only informed the police about a possible parade on June 3 — the day they won their first IPL trophy after 18 years — but this was merely an intimation, not a formal request as required under the law.
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The government clarified that permissions for such events need to be applied for at least seven days in advance.
The report said:
“This was in the nature of an intimation, not a requisition for permission as required under the law.”
It added that:
“In the present case, no applications in the prescribed formats were submitted to the licensing authority by the applicant/organiser. In the absence of such information required under the prescribed formats, it was not possible for the licence-granting authority to consider the request positively. Accordingly, the PI of the Cubbon Park Police Station did not grant the permission to the request made by KSCA on 03.06.2025 at around 6.30 pm, due to a lack of information regarding the expected approximate gathering, arrangements made, possible bottlenecks, and the like, for both possible outcomes of the final match, i.e., whether RCB won or lost.”
Shockingly, just a few hours after this, at 7:01 am on June 4, RCB made a social media post on their official handles announcing the victory parade.
According to the report:
“RCB, without consulting the police, posted a photo at 7.01 am the next day on its official social media handles, informing that there is free entry for people and inviting the public to participate in the Victory Parade, which would commence at Vidhana Soudha and conclude at Chinnaswamy Stadium.”
This was followed by another post at 8 am repeating the same message. Later, at 8:55 am, a video message of RCB star Virat Kohli was posted, stating:
“The team intended to celebrate this victory with the people of Bengaluru city and RCB fans on 04.06.2025 in Bengaluru.”
At 3:14 pm on June 4, just before the event, RCB made yet another post stating:
“Announcing a Victory Parade to be held from Vidhana Soudha to Chinnaswamy Stadium from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, stating that this victory parade would be followed by celebrations at Chinnaswamy Stadium. This post mentioned, for the first and only time, that free passes (limited entry) were available on shop.royalchallengers.com, and until this point, there had been no information regarding the disbursement of passes, implying that the event was open to all based on RCB’s prior posts.”
These posts went viral and received massive engagement. The report noted that they had a combined 44 lakh views, resulting in a crowd of more than 3,00,000 people.
The report stated:
“This led to a public gathering of immense proportions, exceeding 3,00,000 individuals. One basis for estimating the crowd size is the BMRCL ridership numbers for 04.06.2025, which transported around 9.66 lakh persons on that date (with the average ridership on regular days being around 6 lakh persons per day). Therefore, including those who travelled on foot, used public transport, and private means on 04.06.2025, the estimated gathering would be well beyond 3,00,000 individuals.”
Moreover, a huge crowd had also gathered along the 14-km route from HAL Airport to Taj West End Hotel to catch a glimpse of the team.
The report mentioned:
“In addition to the crowd that had gathered in and around the Chinnaswamy Stadium, a significant number of people had gathered along the roads from HAL Airport (landing place of the team) to Taj West End (destination), spanning a distance of approximately 14 kilometres to catch a glimpse of the team members. This created a need for extensive deployment of police personnel en route to manage such crowds and prevent any mishaps.”
The crowd only grew larger after videos of the spontaneous gathering were shared online.
“This impromptu gathering of crowds on the roads necessitated the urgent deployment of large numbers of police personnel along the routes, in addition to those required at the stadium and surrounding areas. This situation arose due to a lack of proper planning by the Organisers and the failure to provide the necessary information in advance to the concerned authorities.”
By around 3 pm on June 4, a sudden surge of people had gathered near the stadium.
“Around 3,00,000 individuals gathered in this limited space, far exceeding the stadium’s capacity of merely 35,000. Such a crowd concentrated at the entry gates of the stadium following posts made by the RCB/organisers on their official handles stating that entry to the event would be free for all.”
The confusion turned into chaos when, at 3:14 pm, RCB belatedly clarified that only limited passes would allow entry.
“RCB and other organisers published a post on their social media accounts ‘for the first time and belatedly’, clarifying that entry to the stadium would require limited pass entry. This… created ‘confusion, frustration, and chaos among the public who had already gathered at the stadium and were in high emotions’.”
The crowd grew restless as the gates remained closed, prompting people to force their way in.
“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.”
Several gates experienced stampede-like situations.
“Stadium gates numbers 02, 2A, 6, 7, 15, 17, 18, 20, and 21 experienced sporadic stampedes. In every instance mentioned, the police personnel at and around the gates responded immediately and effectively to regain control and deescalate the situation.”
The report also explained why the parade was not immediately cancelled despite the tragedy unfolding.
“The event was not called off amid concerns that abruptly shutting down the victory celebrations at the stadium could potentially incite violence among the gathered crowd and adversely affect overall law and order across the city.”
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Instead, the government chose a balanced approach.
“…a measured response was taken by curtailing the duration of the function. Instead of complete termination, a measured approach was adopted by allowing the event to proceed with significantly curtailed duration and enhanced monitoring.”
The report added:
“This tactical decision considered the evolving ground situation, crowd psychology, the massive scale of gathering, and the information asymmetry amongst the assembled masses. The risk of large-scale rioting both within the stadium premises and throughout Bengaluru necessitated this careful balancing approach, prioritizing 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.”
EARLIER IN KARNATAKA HC
Earlier, the Karnataka High Court had directed the state government to publicly release its detailed status report on the stampede incident that occurred outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) IPL victory celebrations.
The tragic incident, which took place on June 4, 2025, led to the death of 11 people and left over 50 injured. Although the state government had urged the court to keep the report confidential, the court refused, stating there was “no legal ground” for such secrecy, as the document only contained “facts as perceived” by the government.
The court also instructed the state government to furnish the report to all concerned parties, including the RCB franchise, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), and DNA Entertainment Networks, the official event partner of RCB.
The purpose of the report’s disclosure was to ensure transparency and allow all involved entities to access the government’s version of the events.
While this legal development unfolded, RCB clarified that they were awaiting the findings of a CID investigation, which remains ongoing.
Senior officials from RCB and DNA Entertainment had already submitted their testimonies over the past month, and a final judgment is expected, though no specific date has yet been announced.
On July 1, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), a two-member quasi-judicial body handling cases involving public servants, made some critical observations.
The CAT was tasked with examining the matter after Vikash Kumar, the Inspector General and Additional Commissioner of Police (Bengaluru West), filed a complaint challenging his dismissal following the stampede.
In its 29-page order, the CAT noted that the RCB franchise was responsible for drawing a massive crowd of three to five lakh people outside the stadium.
This crowd had assembled to take part in the celebratory parade, which had been widely announced by the team.
The tribunal stated:
“Announced by the team on all their social media handles shortly after defeating Punjab Kings (PBKS) to end the 18-year wait for the cup on June 3.”
Vikash Kumar and four other police officials were removed from service on the grounds of “substantial dereliction of duty” and for not seeking “guidance”, which the government argued led to a situation that “went out of control.”
In its findings, the tribunal held the franchise accountable as well, stating that RCB had “created a nuisance” by organising the event without obtaining proper permissions from regulatory authorities.
Meanwhile, RCB’s Chief Marketing Officer Nikhil Sosale, who was arrested in connection with the incident and later granted bail, has not released any public statement.
Following the tragedy, RCB had promised compensation for the families of the deceased and assistance for the injured. The franchise also announced plans to set up a special fund named ‘RCB Cares’ for the victims.
However, no updates have been posted on the team’s official social media handles since June 4, the day of the incident.
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