Royal Challengers Sports Private Ltd. (RCLPL) and DNA Entertainment Ltd. on Monday blamed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for the large gathering for RCB’s victory celebrations by pointing out to the High Court of Karnataka that the Chief Minister’s social media post — “join the celebrations of this historic victory” — attracted a large number of people in front of Vidhana Soudha and later this crowd joined the fans gathered around the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Both RCSPL, which owns RCB, and DNA, which is the official event manger for RCSPL, have made these allegations in their separate petitions challenging the first information report (FIR) registered against them in connection with the stampede that resulted in the death of 11 persons outside the stadium on June 4.
Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar, before whom both the petitions came up on Monday, adjourned further hearing while orally asking the Advocate-General Shashi Kiran Shetty to ensure that the police would not precipitate the matter till next week.
The court gave this instruction as it was pointed out that there was a possibility of coercive action against RCSPL’s chief operating officer Rjesh V. Menon and DNA’s managing director Venkata Vardhana Thimmaiah.
Social media posts
“The only ‘act’ stated to have been committed by RCSPL is the invitation [through social media posts] to the public to participate in the celebrations. This, per se, cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered a criminal act. Indeed, the very same act of inviting the public to a celebration was committed by the Chief Minister, who in much the same way as RCSPL, invited fans on social media,” RCSPL contended in its petition.
RCSPL further stated in the petition that “in fact, unlike the Chief Minister, and the State government, RCSPL made it crystal clear that the event was with ‘limited entry’ and that fans who were desirous of joining the celebrations must obtain passes online.”
DNA, in its petition, stated that the State government had also made open invitations to the public to join victory celebrations on social media that were later deleted.
Reasons for stampede
Also, DNA said in its petition that the “stampede was the result of the programme organised by the State government in front of Vidhana Soudha from where lakhs of fans followed the team bus to the stadium without any proportionate police presence at the stadium similar to the police deployment at the Vidhana Soudha.”
The initial lack of deployment of police outside the stadium, and later a lathi-charge by the police were other reasons for stampede, the DNA stated in the petition.
“Celebrating the victory was in fact a call of the State government as detailed discussions were held with the Chief Secretary of the State and officials of the DNA and the Karnataka State Cricket Association, and a minute-by-minute plan was drawn up setting out the sequence of events,” the DNA claimed in the petition.
Why at Vidhana Soudha
The DNA’s petition pointed out that the police had orally denied permission for the victory parade ‘in open bus’ and hence the State government decided to conduct facilitation on the steps of Vidhana Soudha and “RCB conducted in stadium with the blessings of the State government for the entire team.”
While DNA said that if permission was not taken for the event at the stadium, the police would have stopped the event and dispersed the crowd, and actions would have been initiated on the same day, RCSPL said the fact that the RCB team’s commute route was facilitated with the police escort further indicated official sanction and endorsement for the events.
Crowding at gates
RCSPL said that DNA personnel were ready to open gates of the stadium at 1.45 p.m. but due to discussions with the police the gates were opened around 3 p.m., and the unruly crowed rushed inside without sufficient police personnel.
While RCSPL stated that the police were responsible for law and order and crowd control outside the stadium like any other events held in the stadium, DNA said that no sufficient police were present when gates were opened and then more police personnel came and resorted to lathi-charge, triggering stampede.
Published – June 09, 2025 09:53 pm IST
