“My body started to shiver on facing such a huge crowd,”: The injured
BENGALURU-Some of the injured persons in stampede at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru city on June 4 recall the scenes at the spot and record their statement before Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner Jagadeesh who is conducting a magisterial inquiry into the stampede.
“I should have not made it to the Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4,” was a statement made by injured persons who came to record their statement to the Deputy Commissioner in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
The State Government ordered for a magisterial inquiry into the stampede which claimed 11 lives and left about 50 injured when huge crowd gathering made a rush to enter the Chinnaswamy Stadium to catch glimpses of felicitation to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on winning Indian Premier League (IPL)-2025.
An injured Rajesh recalled the scenes at the venue and an eyewitness to a couple of days owing to stampede. He said he was at gate 1 of the Chinnaswamy Stadium. “Lots of jostling as people from behind started to one another eager to make it into the Stadium,” he said. “It was a mad rush,” recounted Rajesh and stated “People gathered at the venue were in a frenzy.”
“Owing to jostling, I fell on a fence and got injured. I have been asked by the doctors to get the stitches for my injuries removed after 10 days,” he said.
“It would have been better had the felicitation programme for RCB players was organized a couple of days later (instead of June 4 a day),” Rajesh felt and recalled “I was at gate 7 and people made numerous pleas to the security guards to open the gates but to no avail.”
Rajesh said “Appeals were made by fans to security guards with folded-hands but it went unheeded.”
Another injured who did not wish to be named stated “The place was overcrowded and some gathered at the venue wished to return but there was no space for them to return back as people were jam-packed at the stadium.”
Continuing, the injured said, as a result of jostling around, people started to fall on one another resulting in the stampede.
On condition of anonymity, an injured person who had come to make the statement to DC, said “The scenes at the Stadium sent a chill down the spine.”
“My body started to shiver on facing such a huge crowd,” the injured said and stated some girls unable to tolerate jostling around screamed for help but to no avail.
“I started to sweat a lot on entering the Stadium,” recounted the injured and stated policemen at the venue asked people not to enter the Stadium since it was full but there was no one to listen to them.
