Legendary Indian batter Rahul Dravid recently opened up about the tragic stampede that occurred during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL victory celebrations on June 4 and expressed grief over the incident that claimed 11 lives and left over 50 injured. The former India captain and coach, who hails from Bengaluru, shared his condolences and revealed how a moment of sporting celebrations turned into a tragedy.
RCB’s historic IPL title victory on June 3, after an 18-year wait, triggered a festival-like celebration in Bengaluru. To celebrate this achievement, RCB organised celebrations in Bengaluru the following day, including a victory parade from Vidhana Soudha to the iconic M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
However, what was planned as a homecoming turned into horrific chaos. Notably, approximately two lakh people gathered to celebrate their team’s win, exceeding the expectations of people turning up. Despite initial traffic police concerns, the massive crowd proved too much for the infrastructure and organization to handle.
“Yeah, very disappointing. Obviously, very sad. Thoughts go out to people. This is a really sports-passionate city. I come from here. People love their sport, not only cricket. People love sport in the city and they’ve really followed all the sporting teams here—whether it’s been our football team or our kabaddi team. And of course, the RCB is a very well-followed team. So really sad, very unfortunate what happened. And our thoughts go out to everyone who was injured, and especially to those who lost their lives,” Dravid told NDTV.
The tragedy forced RCB to immediately cut short their fan-engagement program at the stadium. The franchise announced a compensation of INR 10 lakh to the families of each victim, while several officials faced legal consequences.
The incident led to significant organizational changes, with Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) secretary A Shankar and treasurer ES Jairam resigning, citing moral responsibility for the mishap. RCB’s marketing head, Nikhil Sosale, was arrested in connection with the incident, and an FIR was lodged against the franchise. Notably, Dravid, who currently serves as the coach of the Rajasthan Royals, refrained from entering the political blame game that followed the tragedy.
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