Rahul Dravid, notable cricketer and former coach of team India, expressed anguish over the Bengaluru stampede during the celebration of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) IPL 2025 victory. Dravid, who hails from Bengaluru, termed the Bengaluru stampede incident that unfolded outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium as "unfortunate" and "sad".
The tragedy struck Bengaluru after RCB won the IPL for the first time in their fourth attempt in the final. They beat Punjab Kings by 6 runs in Ahmedabad to lift the trophy, which saw Virat Kohli, the legendary Indian batter, finally ending his IPL trophy jinx.
But during the celebration in Bengaluru, just a day after the final, nearly three lakh fans gathered around the Chinnaswamy Stadium to participate in the celebrations that resulted in chaos and stampede which claimed 11 lives and left many injured.
Following the tragedy, the High Court of Karnataka took suo motu cognisance of the incident and posed tough questions to the Karnataka state government and RCB about organising such an event without being careful about crowd management and without taking any proper measures to avoid any untoward incident.
Also read: K'taka CM, DCM meet Cong high command over stampede incident
"Very disappointing and sad," Dravid told the media. "I come from Bengaluru. People here love all sorts of sports, not just cricket. They follow all the sports, be it football or kabaddi."
"It's really heartbreaking that such an unfortunate incident happened. Our thoughts go out to everyone who unfortunately lost their lives and those who were injured. Such a tragedy shouldn't have happened," said Dravid, who once played for RCB between 2008 and 2010.
However, Dravid did not make any political comments.
After the High Court of Karnataka posed several tough questions, the state government suspended five police officers, including the Bengaluru City Police commissioner.
On the KSCA front, A Shankar and ES Jairam resigned from their respective positions of secretary and treasurer of the state association, taking "moral responsibility" for the incident. Meanwhile, Nikhil Sosale, marketing head of RCB, was arrested on June 6, with an FIR also being lodged against the IPL franchise.
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