Punish real culprits, retired top cops tell CM in open letter

Hon’ble Chief Minister,

We are writing this letter to convey our heartfelt condolences at the unfortunate death of eleven cricket fans at the Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium in Bengaluru on the fateful afternoon of June 4, 2025.

It transpires from public statements and available information that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Karnataka State Cricket Association, their event managers and other cohorts wanted a grand celebration of RCB’s victory after 18 years in the IPL 2025. A letter to this purpose was perhaps sent by the organisers to the Government of Karnataka (Secretary of Personnel), seeking permission to host the felicitation in the august presence of the heads of the state government at the Vidhana Soudha on June 4, 2025.

The RCB management, through their social media handles, at the same time invited fans to the Chinnaswamy Stadium for another celebratory function and exhorted their fans to join and witness the victory parade.

It is also learnt that the RCB management was insistent on hosting the function/s within hours of their victory in the final played at Ahmedabad because their foreign players and some local players had their travel plans, which could not be altered!

As you are aware, Sir, the IPL is a commercial sporting entertainer where the best cricketers in the limited overs format are acquired in auction for the season/s by paying them astronomical sums. The franchisees may be named after some city or state depending on the location of the franchisee, but the team assembled on the basis of auctions in no way represents the city or the state. In fact, these franchisees have no standing in the domestic cricketing calendar. Their only concern is revenue, TRP, and profits.

The local police, to the best of our knowledge, right from SHO Cubban Park to DCP Vidhana Soudha and the Commissioner Police Bengaluru, had expressed their reservations on the request for celebrations owing to lack of time to prepare for the humongous crowds that were bound to turn up for the function/s and the road show.

The police officials had conveyed in writing and otherwise about the danger of acceding to the request of the RCB/KSCA to organise the functions within hours after the final match. They advised the government and also the organisers to defer the programme to the coming Sunday (June 8), by which time appropriate arrangements could have been made in consultation with all the stakeholders.

However, that was not to be. It appears that no written directions were given to the police overruling their objections. The organisers meanwhile kept inviting their fans to participate in the functions
in large numbers, offering them free tickets/passes.

In short, the professional advice of the police officers was not heeded and the organisers went ahead with the arrangements, presumably with the tacit support of the government. The consequences of disregarding professional police advice and going ahead with celebrations are there for anyone to see.

In your initial statements, Sir, you had rightly stated that the sudden surge of two/three lakh people at the venue, which could accommodate only 35,000 people, was the reason for the stampede. However, senior police officers including the Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru, who has an unblemished record of service and integrity, have been suspended. They were made the fall guys. There is a general impression that the police officers have been victimised while those, whose haste, over-enthusiasm, and reluctance to take a stand, contributed to the tragedy have managed to get away.

Sir, you have immense administrative experience. Action should actually be taken against those who bulldozed the police and insisted on holding the celebrations. Adequate costs should also be imposed on the profit-oriented bodies who played with the lives of innocent fans without bothering about the detailed arrangements required for the occasion.

Meanwhile, we would humbly request you to revoke the suspensions of police officers. The judicial inquiry is to be completed within a month. It would be fair and proper to take any action against the police officers only after the findings of the judicial inquiry are known.

With regards. Yours truly,

Prakash Singh, former DGP UP and Assam and DG BSF; DR Karthikeyan, former Director CBI and DG NHRC; Somesh Goyal, former DGP Himachal Pradesh; KP Jain, former DGP Tamil Nadu;GBS Sidhu, former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI; Satish Chandra Jha, former Chairman, NTRO; Arun Kumar, former DG RPF; CD Sahay, former Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI; TR Kakkar, former Special Secretary, MHA, GoI; Himanshu Kumar, former DG SSB; Ramavtar Yadav, former DGP Andhra Pradesh; DP Sinha, former Secretary (Security) Cabinet Secretariat, GoI; Sudhir Kumar, former Vigilance Commissioner, CVC; BC Nayak, former Special Director, Intelligence Bureau; KM Singh, former DG CISF and Member NDMA, GoI; Ajay Aggarwal, former DG Prisons, Tihar, New Delhi; Shanti Kumar Jain, former Member Public Grievances Commission; Satish Sahney, Former CP Mumbai; MR Reddy, former Director SPG and Secretary (Security) GoI; BL Vohra, former DGP Manipur and SSB; Manjari Jaruhar, former Special DG CISF; AK Puri, former DGP Himachal Pradesh; AK Abrol, former Special DG RPF; OPS Malik, former DG Narcotics Control Bureau; BS Sial, former DGP Karnataka; Dr. KK Paul, former CP Delhi; Sanjay Sinha, former DGP Tripura; SBS Tomar, former Spl. Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat;
V. Rajagopal, former Spl. Director, IB;
Dipak Mishra, Spl. DG CRPF.