The felicitation ceremony for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium turned into a tragedy on Wednesday. At least eleven people lost lives and several others injured in a stampede among the frenzied fans.
The stampede is reported to have taken place after the police lathicharged the fans, who were getting uncontrollable to have a glimpse of the members of the winning team.
RCB on Tuesday night won the IPL for the first time in 18 years. It defeated Punjab Kings in Ahmedabad by six runs.
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah met the injured at the hospital.
The felicitation was organised by the Karnataka Government. Thousands of people gathered outside the stadium to have a glimpse of the players. The stampede broke out as they tried to enter the stadium. There are unconfirmed reports that the stampede broke out after the police lathicharged to control the crowd.
Visuals of the site on different media houses show the injured being rushed for medical support.
Earlier in the day, Bengaluru Traffic Police had released an advisory to commuters to avoid the Central Business District area where both the Chinnaswamy Stadium as the Vidhana Soudha are located.
There are also reports that a permission was given only for the felicitation programme and not a victory parade due to police bandobast issues.
The opposition BJP in Karnataka has lashed out at the ruling Congress government.
The BJP accused the Congress-led Karnataka government of poor planning and crowd mismanagement.
BJP’s Karnataka unit, posting on X, said, “Many are battling for life after a stampede due to the irresponsibility of the Congress govt. No crowd control measures. No basic arrangements. Just chaos. While innocent people died, @siddaramaiah & @DKShivakumar were busy shooting reels & hogging limelight with cricketers. Shame on this photo-op Congress government. This is criminal negligence. Blood is on the hands of Congress govt.”
BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya in a post on X, wrote, “tragic stampede in Bengaluru. A celebration has turned into a nightmare.”
“This heartbreaking incident could have been avoided. The lack of basic administrative foresight and failure in crowd control by the state government has led to an irreparable loss. Accountability must be fixed. Lives were lost due to negligence, not chance,” he wrote.
Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya appealed for calm, saying, “urging citizens of Namma Bengaluru to celebrate with responsibility. Let this moment of joy not be overshadowed by tragedy.”
There are even allegations that the felicitation continued inside the stadium even as the stampede was taking place outside.
RCB players were safely escorted back to their hotel.
This is a developing story and the death toll is likely to increase.
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