Deleted Virat Kohli's video resurfaces after Karnataka government blames RCB for Chinnaswamy stampede, WATCH

The Karnataka government submitted a status report on the Chinnaswamy stadium stampede in Bengaluru that claimed 11 lives and left over 50 people injured to the High Court on Thursday. In its report to the High Court regarding the stampede, it has pointed to serious lapses and mismanagement from the franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

According to the state government, no formal permission was taken from the event organiser (DNA), merely informing the police about the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) victory parade on June 3 without seeking formal approval as mandated by the 2009 city order. Consequently, the police denied permission. Despite police denial, RCB proceeded to publicly promote the event. On June 4, they shared open invitations on social media, including a video appeal by Virat Kohli, encouraging fans to attend the free-entry celebration.

On June 4, at 8:55 AM, RCB shared Kohli's video message, encouraging fans to join the victory parade from Vidhana Soudha to Chinnaswamy Stadium. The video, shared via RCB's 'X' handle, stated that he team "intends to celebrate this victory with the people of Bengaluru and RCB fans on 04.06.2025 after the team returns to Bengaluru."

Although the RCB had later deleted the clip, it resurfaced after the Karnataka government submitted its report to the HC. 

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 June 4, 2025

At 3:14, another post by the team announced limited free passes for the event. "This post mentioned, for the first and only time, that free passes (limited entry) were available on shop.royalchallengers.com, and until this point, there had been no information regarding the disbursement of passes, implying that the event was open to all based on RCB's prior posts," the report noted.

The massive turnout far exceeded expectations and crowd management capabilities. Due to overcrowding at the event organisers at 3:14 p.m. on the day of the event, organisers abruptly announced that entry to the stadium would require passes, contradicting earlier messages and triggering confusion and panic.

The state government said that the RCB, DNA, and KSCA failed to coordinate effectively. Mismanagement at the entry gates and delayed openings led to a stampede, resulting in injuries to seven police personnel. To prevent further unrest, the police permitted a restricted version of the event to proceed under controlled conditions.

With inputs from ANI