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Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) invited people for a victory parade to Chinnaswamy stadium “unilaterally" and “without consultation or permission" from city police, the Karnataka government has said in its report to the High Court.

The state government has directly blamed RCB for the stampede that occurred outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4, claiming 11 lives and leaving several others injured.

Notably, the government in its report pointed to a series of lapses, including a public video appeal by cricketer Virat Kohli that it said drew an overwhelming crowd despite police denying permission for the event, India Today reported.

DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt Ltd had merely informed the police of a planned victory parade on June 3 but had not sought formal permission, the report submitted. However, the police explicitly refused to allow the event.

“In the present case, no applications in the prescribed formats were submitted to the licensing authority by the applicant/organiser. In the absence of such information required under the prescribed formats, it was not possible for the licence-granting authority to consider the request positively. Accordingly, the PI of the Cubbon Park Police Station did not grant the permission to the request made by KSCA on 03.06.2025 at around 6.30 pm, due to a lack of information regarding the expected approximate gathering, arrangements made, possible bottlenecks, and the like, for both possible outcomes of the final match, i.e., whether RCB won or lost," the report was quoted by NDTV.

Despite the refusal, RCB went ahead with the event and issued an open public invitation on social media platforms on June 4. The report further highlighted a video featuring cricketer Virat Kohli inviting fans to attend the free-entry celebration, stating that this contributed significantly to the massive turnout of over three lakh people, far exceeding what the organisers or police were prepared for.

A confusion regarding free entry added to the disaster. At 3.14 pm, organisers abruptly announced that the entry into the stadium would be limited to passes, differing from the prior announcement. This last-minute change contradicted the earlier open-entry announcements and sparked panic among the crowd.
The report mentioned that RCB, DNA, and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) failed to coordinate effectively, which led to the stampede. Poor planning at the entry gates and delays in opening them led to disorder, resulting in a stampede-like situation, the submissions stated.