RCB victory parade stampede: Virat Kolhi expected ‘unreal' celebrations in Bengaluru, but Siddaramaiah says police didn't anticipate huge turnout
Following the tragic death of 11 Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) fans, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claimed that his government did not anticipate such a huge crowd. But RCBian Virat Kohli had expected, minutes after the team's maiden IPL triumph on Tuesday, that the celebrations would be 'unreal'.
On Wednesday, 11 people including women died and 47 others were injured as RCB fans stampeded into Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium to catch a glimpse of the winners.
Siddaramaiah said that neither police nor Karnataka State Cricket Association anticipated such a huge crowd.
He said, 'The Chinnaswamy stadium accommodates 35,000 and we anticipated a few more thousands would turn up. But there were about 2-3 lakh people and one lakh had gathered near Vidhana Soudha.'
However, the fans who turned up said that even they had predicted such a huge crowd, but the arrangements were poor. In a video shared by RCB on Instagram on Tuesday night after the match, Virat Kohli said, 'I am going to feel the real side of when we get to Bengaluru tomorrow and celebrate this with the city.'
In the video, RCB cricketer Mayank Agarwal also went on to say the love and affection of Bengaluru towards Kohli was beyond his gauge. He said, 'In the next couple of days you will get to know it.'
RCB, which has one of the biggest fan following in the world, waited for 18 years to clinch its first IPL title. The only time that Bengaluru had the experience of organising an IPL winning team celebration before was in 2024, when RCB women won the Women's Premier League (WPL) trophy.
Mahesh Somanna, a cricket fan who was near the Chinnaswamy stadium, said that such a huge crowd was expected but there were not enough measures.
'As a RCB fan I will tell you, I was not surprised by the turnout but shocked by the preparations, both inside and outside the stadium. The crowd was never streamlined like how they do during New Year celebrations in Bengaluru. Though there were police in uniform they were outnumbered by the crowd,' he added.
Another woman who had a free pass to enter the stadium said there was no security or protection for women. 'Despite having the pass, I had to fight to enter because the gate was overcrowded. Even inside the cricket stadium, I did not see much security for women and it was totally haphazard,' she added.
A senior police officer who chose anonymity said the government was warned about unprecedented crowds by the Bengaluru city police.
'With intelligence inputs, the city police recommended that the celebration event be held on Thursday or Friday, but a senior politician in the government insisted on celebrating it on Wednesday,' the officer added.
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