Over 1,000 Police Personnel Deployed For Event, 2.5 Lakh People Came, Far Exceeding Stadium’s Capacity : Karnataka To Court
Bengaluru : The Karnataka government told the High Court on Thursday that over 1,000 police personnel, including the City Police Commissioner, DCPs, and ACPs, were deployed at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on the day of the stampede, which resulted in 11 deaths. Karnataka High Court, earlier in the day, had taken suo motu cognisance of the stampede and issued a notice to the State Government.
Appearing before a bench of Acting Chief Justice V Kameshwara Rao and Justice CM Joshi, Advocate General Shashikiran Shetty said, “We are not taking an adversarial approach. Whatever direction the court gives, we are ready to act.” The Karnataka High Court remarked, “The intent to celebrate has led to a tragedy. We take suo motu cognisance of the same to ascertain the reasons for the tragedy and if the tragedy could have been prevented and steps that need to be taken in the future.”
The government said water tankers, ambulances, and command and control vehicles were also present, and this was “far more” than what had been done for previous matches. Despite this, the state said the situation spiralled due to the arrival of over 2.5 lakh people, many of whom believed there would be free entry to the stadium.
According to the state counsel, people started gathering at the venue by noon, and by 3 pm, the area was fully blocked. The crowd included people from outside the state as well. When the bench asked how many gates the stadium has, the state replied that there were 21 gates, all of which were open, and people were seated inside as well.
In response to the court’s question about a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for crowd control, the state said such steps are “futuristic” and are currently being worked on. The state also told the court RCB and its event managers handled ticketing and crowd management. An FIR has been filed, and notices issued to concerned parties to investigate whether there was any negligence, said Shetty.