Bengaluru: 11 dead at a victory parade held without permission

What happened

On 4 June 2025, a day after Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their first IPL title, an estimated two to three lakh people converged on M Chinnaswamy Stadium for a victory celebration announced at less than a day’s notice. The event’s organisers had informed police but not obtained the mandated formal permission — which police declined — yet the celebration was publicly promoted, including free-entry invitations on social media. In the crush at the stadium gates, 11 people died — many of them students and young fans — and more than 50 were injured.

What the official record found

The state government suspended the Bengaluru police commissioner and other officers, and an FIR for culpable homicide not amounting to murder was registered against the franchise, its event manager and the state cricket association. The one-member judicial commission of retired Justice John Michael D’Cunha, whose report the Karnataka cabinet accepted, found the deaths preventable: no prior risk assessment, no coordination between police and organisers, physical-ticket distribution that concentrated crowds, and grossly inadequate policing at the gates. The commission recommended action against the organisers and barred large events at the stadium pending crowd safety reforms.

Where it stands

Criminal proceedings against the organisers continue. In July 2026 the state government closed departmental proceedings against the suspended police commissioner and two other IPS officers, giving them a clean chit — the gap between the commission’s findings on police failures and the absence of consequences for senior officers is part of the record.