RCB prima facie responsible for stampede, CAT rules; says Bengaluru police don't have 'Aladdin ka Chirag'

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has held Indian Premier League (IPL) team Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) prima facie responsible for the stampede incident in Bengaluru that led to the death of 11 people on June 4, LiveLaw reported Tuesday.

The tragic incident drew widespread criticism on crowd management after lakhs of people thronged Chinnaswamy stadium to celebrate RCB's maiden title win.

In its order, the Tribunal observed that RCB had failed to seek prior permission from the police before publicising its event, which led to a crowd of 3 to 5 lakh people gathering in the city on June 4, 2026.


The announcement was made through social media platforms, giving law enforcement no time to make adequate security arrangements, the Tribunal noted.

“Suddenly, the RCB created the aforesaid type of nuisance without any prior permission,” the Tribunal said, adding that the police had already been deployed for a separate state government function at the Vidhana Soudha on the same day.

The Tribunal strongly noted that law enforcement cannot be expected to manage such massive crowds at short notice. “Police personnel are also human beings. They are neither ‘God (Bhagwan)’ nor magician and also not having the magic powers like ‘Alladdin ka Chirag’,” it said.

In its order, the Tribunal also quashed the Karnataka government’s suspension order against senior IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash, who faced the action in the wake of a fatal stampede.

CM Siddaramaiah, following the incident, had announced the suspension of Commissioner of Police of Bengaluru city Dayananda, Additional Commissioner of Police Vikash Kumar Vikash, who was in charge of the stadium, Deputy Commissioner of Police of central division Shekhar H Tekkannavar, Assistant Commissioner of Police C Balakrishna, and Circle Police Inspector of the Cubbon Park Police station A K Girish.

The government had suspended the three IPS officers under the All India Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1969; while action against the ACP and PI was pursued under the Karnataka State Police (Disciplinary Proceedings) Rules, 1965.