Bengaluru stampede: HC restrains police from taking coercive action against KSCA members

Fans of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) gathered outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium celebrating in Bengaluru on June 04, 2025.
| Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K

The High Court of Karnataka on Friday (June 6, 2025) restrained the police from taking any coercive steps against the three members of the managing committee of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) based on the First Information Report (FIR) registered in connection with the stampede outside M. Chinnaswamy stadium, in which 11 people died during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) victory celebrations on June 4, 2025.

Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar passed the interim order on the petitions filed by KSCA’s Managing Committee, comprising its president Raghuram Bhat, secretary A. Shankar and treasurer E.S. Jairam.

Only rented out

The KSCA has stated that it had only rented out the stadium to Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited (RCSPL), which owns RCB, apart from facilitating RCSPL in securing permissions from the government agencies for the event. The gates of the stadium and entry and exit were being managed by RCB though DNA Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., the KSCA has said.

“The whole purpose of naming the KSCA along with RCB and DNA is to keep someone on the seat of guilt so that the objections and hate of the public against all the government heads/several ministers who are being accused of being responsible for the catastrophe be diverted so that they escape the wrath,” the KSCA alleged in the petition.

Met CM for support

It has been categorically stated in the petition that the representatives of KSCA and DNA met the Chief Minister [Siddaramaiah] and sought his support and blessings for the event, and a programme was also organised on the steps of Vidhana Soudha in which Chief Secretary of the State had guided the event.

Celebrating the victory of RCB “in fact was the call of the Government as it facilitated the players in front of Vidhan Soudha in the presence of the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister [D.K. Shivakumar] and several Cabinet ministers with all the secretariat and police higher-ups being present,” the KSCA said.

The FIR, the KSCA claimed, is the result of “a knee-jerk reaction of the police at the instance of heads of the government who were struggling hard to take the lashes of media and severe criticism over stampede.”

What suspension implies

Registering FIR against KSCA is a serious failure of justice at the hands of the police when the government itself had termed the stampede as “an unforeseen accident and unintended act,” it has been claimed in the petition while pointing out that the when Government Order of suspension of the city’s top police officers clearly blames the failure of the police for the stampede, the police cannot victimise the KSCA.

The KSCA has stated in the petition that registration of FIR was “illegal” as the police had already commenced probe by registering Unnatural Death Report (UDR) on the incident of stampede.

Background

On June 6, Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) president Raghu Ram Bhat and a few other office-bearers moved the Karnataka High Court seeking to quash the FIR filed against them in the Chinnaswamy stadium stampede case.

On June 5, police registered an FIR against RCB, event management firm DNA Entertainment Private Limited, and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). On June 6 morning, four officials of RCB and DNA entertainment were taken into custody, police sources said.

On June 5, Chief Minister Siddarmaiah had instructed the State DG&IGP to immediately arrest the representatives of RCB, DNA entertainment and KSCA in connection with the stampede, as prima facie there was ‘irresponsibility’ and ‘carelessness’ on their part.

The stampede occurred on June 4 evening in front of the stadium after a large number of people turned up to participate in the RCB team’s IPL victory celebrations. Eleven persons have died and 56 were injured in the stampede.