'We cannot be silent...': BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia gives massive statement following the arrest of RCB official over Chinnaswamy stadium stampede

Following the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) six-run victory over the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the IPL 2025 final held at the Narendra Modi stadium, it was announced that a victory parade and felicitation ceremony would take place at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. This was announced in order to celebrate the side's first-ever IPL triumph.

However, what should have been a day of celebration and joy, ended up being an absolute disaster as the local authorities failed to gauge the amount of people who would turn up for the event. The streets around the stadium were jam-packed and the sheer mismanagement of the event resulted in a stampede which took the lives of a total of 11 people and injured several others.

4 RCB officials have been arrested so far

Following this tragedy, the Bengaluru police have so far arrested four RCB officials including their marketing head Nikhil Sosale. He was arrested at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru at around 6:30 AM on Friday.

Following the arrest, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Devajit Saikia stated that they cannot sit and watch things unfold silently like a spectator and added that the board is also thinking of introducing guidelines for events like the victory parade.

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"At some stage BCCI will have to do something. We cannot be a silent spectator. It was a private affair of RCB but we at the BCCI are responsible for cricket in India and we will try to ensure such incidents do not recur in future," Saikia told Cricbuzz.

Earlier, Bengaluru Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Bengaluru-based franchise both had announced a compensation of INR 10 lakh each from their side to the families of the victims. RCB had also announced the setting up of a fund called RCB Cares for the people who got injured due to the stampede.

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Strict measures need to be taken by the BCCI and the local authorities whenever and wherever the next victory parade takes place in India. The tragedy that took place in Bengaluru is a lesson for the higher authorities and it must be ensured that such things do not happen again.