11 empty seats at Chinnaswamy: As IPL 2026 begins today, victims of RCB’s 2025 victory parade stampede still await justice

However, the state HC issued a directive on July 8, 2025, to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) wing of the police, who were investigating the three FIRs registered over the stampede cases, not to file a chargesheet.

Despite the CID police informing the High Court of its readiness to file chargesheets for the stampede deaths, the HC is yet to accord clearances for it, sources said.

On March 3, the Karnataka HC refused to grant leave for the filing of chargesheets until it hears and decides petitions filed by RCB, KSCA, and event management firm DNA Entertainment Networks in June 2025 for quashing the FIRs against them.

Justice M Nagaprasanna said on March 3 that investigations were permitted to continue to get to know what happened and that filing of a chargesheet would leave nothing in the cases.

Earlier on July 8, 2025, Justice S R Krishna Kumar had ruled that the police “are directed not to file the final report without the leave of the court.”

On March 23, 2026, the Karnataka HC posted the hearing in the petitions filed by the RCB for quashing the police case over the stampede to April 15.

Earlier, on February 23, a division bench of the Karnataka HC had closed a suo-motu public interest litigation initiated soon after the stampede on the basis of a state government submission that it has proposed the Karnataka Crowd Control (Managing Crowd At Events And Venues Of Mass Gathering) Bill, 2025, for effective crowd management and control at mega events.

RCB has announced a memorial for the 11 fans who died in the stampede and an enhanced compensation of ₹25 lakh for the families of the victims. The club also announced this week that 11 seats would be kept empty at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in memory of fans who died in last year’s stampede, when RCB’s IPL title defence begins on Saturday.

A day after the tragedy, the Bengaluru police registered three FIRs, and the CID unit of the Karnataka police was asked to probe the criminality involved in the stampede incident, where the culpable homicide section was invoked.

The government suspended (and later reinstated) three IPS officers, along with two policemen, after the High Court took up the suo motu petition to bring about corrective measures and SOPs to prevent stampedes.

Incidentally, a judicial commission headed by retired Karnataka High Court judge Justice John Michael D’Cunha, set up by the state, has recommended legal action against multiple officials of the RCB, DNA Networks, KSCA, and the Bengaluru police for the stampede.

The 11 deaths of people aged between 14 and 29 – including five females and six males – occurred on the evening of June 4, 2025, when RCB fans thronged the Bengaluru cricket stadium to celebrate the RCB IPL victory after RCB invited fans for the celebrations with social media messages.

The deaths occurred in the absence of crowd control by the police and emergency rescue measures for fans who collapsed and were trampled upon as they tried to force open the closed gates of the stadium. The deceased fans include Divyanshi B S, 14, a school student, Kamakshi Devi, 29,  a private firm employee, Akshata Pai, 26, a private firm employee, Chinmaya Shetty, 19, a student, Sahana Rajesh, 23, a private firm employee,  Shivalingu Chandappa, 17, a student, Shravan K T, 20, a student, Manoj Kumar, 19, a student,  Bhoomik Lakshman 19, a student, Prajwal G, 22, a student and Poorna Chandra, 20, a student.

The stampede happened even as the Karnataka Government was holding its own event to felicitate the RCB team for winning the 2025 IPL tournament – a short distance away from the stadium at the Vidhana Soudha, with the Karnataka CM and DCM in attendance.