The Karnataka government, during a High Court hearing on Wednesday, placed the blame for the deadly stampede outside M Chinnaswamy Stadium squarely on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The tragic incident, which left 11 dead, reportedly occurred due to gross mismanagement, misinformation, and lack of proper permissions for RCB’s victory celebration event. The state claimed that social media posts by RCB had “invited the whole world,” attracting nearly 4 lakh people to a stadium with a 33,000 capacity.

Appearing before Justice SR Krishna Kumar, Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty argued that no formal permissions had been obtained by RCB or BCCI. He added that the state had only received an intimation from the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), not a formal request. Shetty accused RCB of misleading the court by portraying the parade as a public or state-sanctioned event when it was in fact a private affair. He further asserted that the event lacked essential safety measures like barriers, signage, and crowd control, directly resulting in chaos and fatalities.

The Advocate General also revealed that the agreement regarding security and ticketing rested between RCB and BCCI, not KSCA, as earlier claimed. The state government has ordered both magisterial and judicial inquiries into the incident, handed over the investigation to the CID, and replaced key police personnel. The court continues to hear bail pleas from RCB officials, including the team's marketing head, amid mounting accountability demands.