Bengaluru stampede: Sea of fans, hapless cops, an urban tragedy

DIvyamshika, a 14-year-old buff of Virat Kohli, had attended her grandparents to watch over her favourite cricketer at the triumph celebrations of the royal stag Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Wednesday evening, when a sea of people pushed them while they were trying to enter the at the Chinnaswamy Stadium from gate no 3.Moments later, her grandmother Kavitha Gowda was inconsolable while waiting at the mortuary of the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital to collect her granddaughter’s body.“I lost my granddaughter (Divyamshika) in the stampede,” she said, struggling to fight her tears.Gowda said her granddaughter was a fan of Virat Kohli and wanted to see him. “So, we decided to take her to the stadium. We had no idea that there would be so many people. As the team bus entered the stadium, people behind us started pushing with force and my granddaughter fell. People did not stop even when we told them that she had fallen,” Gowda recalled.With the help of a few policemen, they found her in an unconscious state and the police rushed her to the hospital. “She died at the hospital,” Gowda said, adding in retrospect it was her mistake to accept her grandkid’s “last” demand.The victory celebrations of RCB men’s team, which lifted the IPL trophy for the first time in 18 years, ended in chaos as thousands of fans swarmed the Chinnaswamy Stadium, triggering a stampede that left at least 11 people dead and 33 others injured. RCB beat the Punjab Kings in the IPL final on Tuesday night.Eyewitnesses described the situation as one “spiralling out of control” with the police personnel overwhelmed by a massive surge of crowd from all sides. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said there were at least 300,000 people at the stadium, which had a seating capacity of 35,000.Among the victims was a 36-year-old software engineer from Mandya district, Poorna Chandra, a long-time RCB supporter, who had been celebrating since last night.“When the news came that the team is coming to the stadium, he decided to be part of celebration. In the afternoon, he went to the stadium. Later, we were told that he died due to the stampede at Gate Number 5,” Chandra’s relative Gangadhara, who had come to the mortuary to collect his body, said, adding Chandra left behind two children in Classes 3 and 5, he added. Many people who went for the celebration said police failed to control the swelling crowd pressing towards the gates. Though police told the crowd that the stadium was full and advised those at the gates to return home and watch celebrations on the television.“I could hear policemen saying that the stadium is full and they should return. We wanted to go back but others did not allow us to leave,” an eyewitness, who did not identify himself, said.People were not willing to listen.At Gate Number 6, Venkata Swamy, a restro bar manager who took leave to be at the stadium, said the frenzy crowd chanting “RCB RCB” had climbed on trees and tried to enter the stadium by jumping over the walls and the gate.“There was total madness. No control or discipline. The police resorted to a mild lathi-charge to disperse the crowd but it was in vain. People pushed down the barricades installed to control the crowd while trying to enter the stadium,” Swamy said.According to multiple eyewitnesses, the rush was more at gates 5 and 6. As the people pressure increased there, police tried to open up gate no 12, leading to people running towards that gate, resulting in more chaos and confusion.“Thousands had already gathered outside Gates 5 and 6. Some even attempted to climb Gate 6. A stampede-like situation broke out near Gate 18, leaving many seriously injured. Police had to use lathi charge to disperse the crowd. At Gate 12, officials opened entry to ease pressure, but that decision added to the confusion,” said N Virupaksha, another witness.He, however, complimented the police for immediately taking the injured to hospitals.Another eyewitness, who identified himself as Mahesh, said many people had come to see Virat Kohli, adding there were a large number of girls. “I saw three girls falling on the ground. The crowd did not stop. I have never seen such madness before,” he added.An early conclusion of the felicitation event organised at Vidhan Soudha, in which chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar participated, due to sudden rain also led to many people heading toward the stadium. Siddaramaiah said there was about a hundred thousand people at the Vidhan Soudha and three hundred thousand at the stadium.