Top KSCA officials resign amid probe into stampede at RCB IPL title celebration

The Bengaluru stampede during the RCB victory celebrations outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium that killed 11 people has caused a major upheaval in the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) as A Shankar and E S Jairam have resigned from their respective posts as secretary and treasurer of the cricketing body.

The duo took moral responsibility for the tragedy that unfolded on Wednesday amid a probe into the incident.

Shankar and Jairam said they had submitted their resignations on Thursday night to KSCA president Raghuram Bhat.

“Due to the unforeseen and unfortunate events that have unfolded in the last two days, and though our role was very limited, we wish to state that we have tendered our resignation to our respective posts as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Karnataka State Cricket Association,” the joint statement read.

Bhat and the two officials who resigned had submitted to the Karnataka high court that the association was not responsible for gate and crowd management. The submission added that they had sought permission to hold RCB IPL celebrations at Vidhan Soudha.

Several Police officials, including Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda, were suspended in the aftermath of the tragedy.

The Bengaluru stampede

The Bengaluru stampede occurred after the felicitation of the players who won RCB’s first-ever IPL title. The initial felicitation was organised at the Vidhan Soudha, and it passed off without any major glitch.

Chaos erupted outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where lakhs converged following RCB’s social media invitation asking fans to attend a ceremony there. The invite was eventually deleted.

A planned victory parade had to be cancelled, but the function inside the stadium proceeded despite the tragic death of 11 fans. The Karnataka government said that it had asked the organisers to wrap up the program in 10 minutes after learning about the deaths, which they obliged.

FIR has been registered in the case, and four officials from RCB and the event management company DNA were arrested on Friday, including RCB marketing head Nikhil Sosale.

A complaint was also registered against Virat Kohli, but police sources said no FIR has been registered so far. The complainant, social activist HM Venkatesh, alleged Kohli was promoting “gambling through IPL,” claiming it incited the large crowd that triggered the tragedy.