Bengaluru Police were not in favour of the felicitation ceremony for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Vidhana Soudha, communication between the Siddaramaiah government and the Karnataka State Cricket Association accessed by CNN-News18 has revealed.
According to reports, last-minute confusions, limited seats at Chinnaswamy Stadium and an increasing crowd outside the premises led to the tragic stampede during RCB's victory celebrations. Eleven people died and 47 were reportedly injured in the stampede.
According to News18, on June 3, KSCA wrote to DPAR, seeking permission to hold a felicitation event on the grand steps of the Vidhan Soudha if RCB wins the IPL. DPAR then wrote to the police, seeking their opinion on the proposal. However, sources in the police department told News18 that the cops were not in favour of allowing the Vidhana Soudha event.
Police sources, on condition of anonymity, told PTI that even though they had made it clear that no victory parade would be held and that those with tickets would only be allowed to enter the stadium, fans in large numbers gathered outside the stadium and many among them also jumped the gates to gain entry.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has ordered an investigation into what led to the stampede. The report is expected in 15 days. According to the CM, while the stadium only had a capacity of 35,000 seats, over 2-3 lakh people had turned up for the event. "...no one had expected that so many people would come. The expectation was the equivalent number of people for the stadium's capacity or slightly more than that may gather," the chief minister said. He also visited the injured at the hospital.
On Wednesday morning, the team’s management announced that they would hold a victory parade in an open bus from Vidhana Soudha to the stadium,. This was to be held before an event at the stadium for which limited free passes would be available online.
According to Indian Express, at 11.56 am on Wednesday, the traffic police announced that there would be no victory parade. Around 1.30 pm, the RCB team arrived at HAL airport and took a bus to the hotel before proceeding to Vidhana Soudha. By then, thousands had gathered around the Vidhana Soudha, where Siddaramaiah was scheduled to felicitate the team.
Senior BJP leader R Ashoka demanded resignations of Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar.
Ashoja said that there was no doubt that the deaths that occurred in the stampede near Chinnaswamy Stadium were "state-sponsored murders".
"There are suspicions that the hidden fight between the CM Siddaramaiah and the DCM DK Shivakumar has turned into a credit war, leading to today's chaos," he alleged in a post on 'X'.
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