RCB’s IPL 2025 victory celebration on Wednesday turned into a nightmare as a massive stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium claimed 11 lives and left 33 injured. The trophy celebration happened within 18 hours after RCB won the title, and while news of the stampede was put on the headlines, the players and staff continued with the celebrations inside the stadium.
According to a Deccan Herald report, senior police officers have revealed that they advised against holding the celebrations at short notice. But instead of postponing the celebrations by a week, their advice was ignored.
‘We tried to discourage the government as well as RCB’
An unnamed senior officer told Deccan Herald, “We tried to discourage the government as well as the RCB franchise from Tuesday night against having any celebrations on Wednesday. We told them it would be ill-advised and recommended holding the event next Sunday when emotions would have cooled down.”
The officer also revealed that the initial plan was carry out the procession from Vidhana Soudha, then to Balekundri Circle, then to Cubbon Road, MG Road and Chinnaswamy Stadium, near Queens Circle.
“We told them not to take out any procession, but to hold it in one place in an organised manner. Bring the players to the stadium and finish it there,” said the officer.
But the state government and RCB didn’t pay any heed to police advice. “Their argument was that the players, especially the foreigners, would leave today or tomorrow,” he said.
“Naturally, the government would want to take mileage out of it. If the government had refused, that would have led to another kind of chaos,” he further added.
Meanwhile, another officer revealed, “On Tuesday, till 5.30 am, all our staff — from the police commissioner to constables — were on the streets and completely exhausted. It was total madness. This kind of frenzy we have never seen.”
The Deccan Herald report also revealed that free tickets were being issued by the KSCA near the stadium gates, and over two lakh people gathered near the venue, trying to push their way through. Soon, everything got out of control, leading to tragedy well before the event began in Vidhana Soudha.