Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
The celebration of the IPL Trophy of Royal Challengers in Bengaluru turned into a mourning of death. There was an atmosphere of happiness in Bengaluru since Tuesday night. After waiting for 18 years, Royal Challengers Bangalore won the IPL tournament. The Government of Karnataka organized a big ceremony at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. In this stadium, people cheer Virat Kohli during every cricket match. The crowd outside the same stadium became uncontrollable on Wednesday. 11 people died, and more than 50 people were injured.
This is really very sad. Virat Kohli was engaged in winning the IPL tournament to RCB for 18 years. He wanted to call fans a thank you in Bengaluru. The entire government of Karnataka was also in a mood for celebrations. In this affair, they forgot to make security arrangements. The crowd forgot to focus on control and this painful accident occurred. The police failed to control the mob. The ambulances fell short to carry the injured. The security people were less at the stadium gate, barricades were not installed. Virat’s fans came thinking that free entry will be found, celebrating, but he got to see death.
What happened in Bengaluru is very unfortunate. Outside, people kept dying in the crowd and the celebration of victory continued inside the stadium. At the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Chief Minister Virat Kohli’s team continued to be photographed and Virat’s fans fell on each other at a distance of 100 meters. Within the stadium, Deputy Chief Minister continued to pick up the IPL cup with the players of RCB and make the reel and due to lack of ambulances outside, people took the injured to the hospital to the hospital. The organizers had received news that innocent people had died, the injured were suffering from pain in hospitals but the celebrations continued.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that there is no fault of the police, it was not known that such a large number of people would come. It was like sprinkling salt on the burn. It is the police job to guess where the crowd will come. After the RCB victory in the IPL on Tuesday night, the way people landed on the streets in Bengaluru, it was not difficult to understand how large the fans would come when the team returned. When the team landed at the airport on Wednesday morning, the police should have been assessed how many people would come to the stadium. In the afternoon, the police should have recovered after seeing the crowd of people who had gathered outside the Vidhan Saudh. D.K. Shivkumar is an experienced administrator. They should have guessed what kind of arrangements are needed.
The truth is that the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister was in a hurry to celebrate the victory, Virat Kohli was in a hurry to be photographed with the team. He organized a hurry. The police did not get a chance to prepare and this painful accident occurred. For this, neither the cricket team should be held responsible, nor the fans who came to see the players. Only police and administration are responsible for this. Its accountability must be fixed. (Rajat Sharma)
See: ‘Today’s talk with Rajat Sharma’ full episode of June 04, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avdo57zbxvq
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