Won’t publish, circulate stampede report, state assures Karnataka HC

Bengaluru: The state government on Wednesday assured the Karnataka high court that the report of the one-man Commission of Inquiry, regarding June 4 stampede outside M Chinnaswamy stadium, will not be published or circulated.

Recording the assurance made by Advocate General (AG) Shashikiran Shetty, a division bench, headed by Justice Jayant Banerji, adjourned the hearing to September 3, in the petition filed by DNA Entertainment Private Limited challenging the validity of the report.

In the previous hearing, the AG had submitted to the court the copy of the original report submitted by the one-man Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice John Michael Cunha. During the hearing on Wednesday, the AG submitted that the report will not be tabled before the state legislature as the commission was not constituted on the basis of the direction issued by the House.

At this stage, the counsel for the petitioner DNA Entertainment submitted that the state government has already given the report to the CID. The AG responded to this saying that the stampede case was entrusted to the CID prior to the submission of the report by the Commission. He also said that the petitioner-company has challenged the FIRs and has the benefit of an interim order.

The bench orally observed that it has perused the report submitted by the commission and would decide on the issue pertaining to the compliance to sections 8 (B) and 8 (C) of the Commission of Inquiry Act. Recording the assurance by the AG, the bench said it would not pass any interim order and asked the state government to file a statement of objections.

In its petition, DNA Entertainment contended that the inquiry report was submitted on July 11, 2025, after the stipulated one-month deadline from June 5, 2025, without proper extension. The petition said that according to the media reports, the commission has recommended action against the officials of Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd (RCSPL), Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and petitioner DNA. 

According to the petitioner, they were not provided copies of witness depositions or relevant documents, despite requests to facilitate cross-examination and address inaccuracies. They assert this denial of opportunity itself renders the report invalid.