‘Never expected such incident to happen, but crowd was uncontrollable’: DyCM on Bengaluru stampede

BENGALURU: Following the death of 11 people in a stampede near the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar complimented the state police force for controlling the massive influx of people during the RCB celebrations.

“Again, I’m telling on record. I should compliment my police officers…morning also, they wanted to have a procession, they wanted to bring a vehicle from the airport itself…Police guided us not to…that’s why I rushed to the airport and ensured nothing went wrong…in Vidhana Soudha, also we were very cautious…” Shivakumar said.

“We never expected such an incident to happen. No political party or official wanted this. They did their best, but there was an uncontrollable crowd,” he added. The DyCM also announced postponing all programmes except the cabinet meeting on June 5.

#WATCH | Bengaluru Stampede | Karnataka Dy CM DK Shivakumar says, “This should not have happened and we never expected such a big crowd…The stadium’s capacity is 35,000 but more than 3 lakh people were there…Gates (of the stadium) have been broken…We apologise for this… pic.twitter.com/UXFezW8AuU

— ANI (@ANI) June 4, 2025

“Tomorrow, except the cabinet meeting, all programmes have been postponed. No celebrations, including the World Environment Day…,” Shivakumar said. he further stated, “The team has extended their condolences…I went to the team immediately and gave them direction that this programme should be stopped within 10 minutes… the team agreed and within 5 minutes, they stopped the programme…we sent a lot of Police teams with them since we didn’t want any incident to happen…”

#WATCH | Bengaluru Stampede | Karnataka Dy CM DK Shivakumar says, “BJP is doing politics…We are very sorry for the incident. We will work out a better solution in the future…” pic.twitter.com/elp944ixlM

— ANI (@ANI) June 4, 2025

Meanwhile, the Karnataka government has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of the deceased killed in the stampede. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah addressed a press conference and said the government would also provide free treatment to the injured.

“A major tragedy occurred during the victory celebrations. It happened near the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The government has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the deceased. The government will provide free treatment to the injured,” the CM said.

#WATCH | Bengaluru stampede | Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah says, “I don’t want to defend this incident. Our government will not do politics on this. I have ordered a magisterial inquiry and given 15 days’ time. People even broke the gates of the stadium. There was a stampede. No one… pic.twitter.com/ZtPIqMthS3

— ANI (@ANI) June 4, 2025

Expressing deep sorrow over the incident, CM Siddaramaiah said, “11 died and 33 were injured in the stampede. This tragedy should not have happened. The government expresses deep sorrow over this incident.” The CM further asserted that he has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter.

“I don’t want to defend this incident. Our government will not do politics on this. I have ordered a magisterial inquiry and given 15 days’ time. People even broke the gates of the stadium. There was a stampede. No one expected such a huge crowd. The stadium has a capacity of only 35,000 people, but 2-3 lakh people came”, CM Siddaramaiah said. (ANI)