Bengaluru stampede: 14-year-old youngest victim, poor planning & hasty conduct of event led to tragedy

Bengaluru: From a 14-year-old girl to a 29-year-old woman, all eleven victims of the stampede outside Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium were mostly teens and youngsters who had gathered to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s maiden IPL title after an 18-year wait.

The victims included four from Bengaluru: Devanshi B S (14), Bhumika (19), Chinnaiah Shetty (19), and Prajwal (22). The others were Akshata Pai (26) from Uttara Kannada, Sahana (23) from Kolar, Manoj Kumar (20) from Tumakuru, Shravan K T (20) from Chikkaballapur, Shivu (17) from Yadgir, Poornachandra (20) from Mandya, and Kamakshi Devi (29) from Coimbatore.

The incident was reportedly triggered by a combination of factors, including overcrowding, poor coordination between organisers and police, inadequate security arrangements, and a hastily announced victory parade, as per PTI.

Reports indicated that a huge crowd flooded the streets as soon as a message about the victory parade was widely circulated on social media. Some came in groups while others left their office work midway to watch the stars parading with the trophy.

A day after the tragedy, the government, police, and event organisers began shifting blame. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah pointed fingers at the Karnataka State Cricket Association for poor planning. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said arrangements had been made for one lakh attendees, but the actual turnout far exceeded expectations.

Opposition parties, including the BJP and JD(S), criticised the government for mishandling the situation and demanded a judicial inquiry. RCB’s early morning announcement of a victory parade reportedly caught officials off guard. The Times of India reported that senior police officers sought political intervention, but a senior minister insisted the event proceed as planned for political mileage. By noon, officers were still unsure whether the parade would take place.

A traffic police officer told Deccan Herald that most personnel were unaware of the parade and that organisers had failed to share key details. “When one officer is asked to manage 100 people, better planning is essential, which wasn’t possible with such short notice,” the officer said.

The confusion was compounded by inadequate police deployment at the stadium, as most senior officers had been stationed at Vidhana Soudha. Junior officers at the stadium struggled to manage the growing crowd. In the absence of clear instructions, some resorted to mild lathicharge, which only escalated the chaos.

The Times of India reported that the police force was already exhausted after crowd control duties during the team’s late-night arrival. “In reality, our men were drained after a gruelling night, and asking them to report for duty again the next morning without reinforcements was a tactical mistake,” the officer said.

Police opened the stadium gates one at a time without prior announcements. Many fans gathered at Gate 7, believing free passes were being distributed there. This led to a massive surge. According to The Times of India, most casualties occurred between Gates 11 and 15 — the section along the team’s entry route where crowds were thickest. Fans, unsure of which gates to use, were seen running between entrances. When denied entry, many forced their way in, breaking barricades and creating dangerous bottlenecks. Several were injured in the crush, and others were hurt while trying to scale the gates.

Those who escaped the mayhem told the media that police were pushing people around but weren’t controlling the crowd in the real sense. Others criticised the lack of planning and said there weren’t enough ambulances, and even the police couldn’t manage the crowd properly.