Ignored warnings led to stampede

At 7:00 am on Wednesday, as the city was still celebrating RCB's historic IPL win, a tweet lit the fuse to a tragedy no one saw coming.

- Arun Dev

BENGALURU: The team announced a grand victory parade through the heart of Bengaluru, but even as fans erupted with joy, the city's top police officers were left scrambling.

By nightfall, the celebrations had turned into chaos. Eleven people lay dead in a stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and dozens more were injured. Behind the scenes was a tale of ignored warnings, last-minute political decisions, and a police force stretched to its breaking point, according to at least three government officials and as many police officials, familiar with the planning of the two celebratory events, the first at the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of power, and the second at the stadium.

When the tweet went out, some of Bengaluru Police's staff, including many of the front-line police personnel, had just ended their days. They had been on duty till around 4:00 am on Wednesday, managing spontaneous celebrations in several places (the final match in Ahmedabad ended late Tuesday night).

RCB's tweet took everyone, including senior officers by surprise.

"We assumed, logically, that nothing official would be scheduled the next day," said a top-ranking police officer. "Everyone was exhausted. There was no time to plan anything."