Shocking! RCB used 'political pressure' on police for IPL 2025 celebrations that turned deadly

The Karnataka government has suspended Bengaluru Police Commissioner B. Dayananda along with several senior officials after a deadly stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The tragedy unfolded during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) IPL 2025 victory celebrations, which quickly went out of control and claimed 11 innocents and left several injured.

The chaos unfolded when more than two lakh fans flooded outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, which has a capacity of 30,000 to 35,000 people. With crowd control slipping out of hand, a stampede broke out, leaving several people injured, and 11 fans lost their lives in a matter of minutes.

RCB Chairman blamed for deadly stampede in Bengaluru

Following the incident, four people, including the Head of Marketing and Revenue at Royal Challengers Bengaluru, have been arrested. Top Bengaluru police sources revealed they had warned the RCB against holding the event on such short notice and suggested a postponement.

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Read Also: FIR filed against RCB as Bengaluru police squarely blame franchise for stampede that killed 11

Despite their denial, the event went ahead. Sources claimed that “political pressure” from RCB’s top brass forced the event to go ahead without proper security arrangements.

The source was quoted as saying by Times Now, “RCB chairman is the main guy responsible for the fiasco. Home Minister (G. Parameshwara) also agreed with our assessment. He was overruled. There was no time to plan.”

Police blame RCB’s short-notice event for the stampede tragedy

The police force, already stretched thin from overnight duties, had no time for standard safety checks or crowd-control mock drills. With only 3,000 personnel deployed, who are usually used for a regular match day, over two lakh people turned around for the celebration, which made things worse.

The police source added, “The whole night till 4 every cop was busy. How can you prepare something by afternoon? For such a big event, we carry out a mock assessment. However, we did not get time to do it this time. Had we gone a day or two earlier, we would have prevented it.”

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has ordered the arrest of top executives from RCB, KSCA, and DNA Entertainment Networks following the deadly stampede outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium during the team’s first-ever title triumph.

Read Also: KSCA makes big exposé, moves high court, blames government for Bengaluru stampede

CM suspends Bengaluru Police officers, orders probe

The tragic incident has triggered political outrage, with the BJP demanding resignations from Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar following the tragedy. Later, the Karnataka government launched a one-man judicial probe led by retired High Court judge Justice Michael D'Cunha. The investigation is expected to submit its report within 30 days.

The CM Siddaramaiah stated, “We have told the commission to give the report in 30 days. The cabinet has also decided to immediately suspend Circle Police Inspector of the Cubbon Park Police Station A. K. Girish, Assistant Commissioner of Police C. BalaKrishna, Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Central Division Shekhar H. Tekkannavar, Additional Commissioner of Police Vikash Kumar Vikash, who is in charge of the stadium, and Commissioner of Police of Bengaluru City Dayananda.”

Notably, many fans without passes tried to push their way in, causing chaos. Some were hurt and fell while trying to climb over the stadium gates as the celebration was going on inside the stadium.