The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) declared that the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) is prima facie responsible for the events of June 4, quashing the suspension of Vikash Kumar Vikash, who was the Additional Commissioner of Police (West) when a stampede outside M. Chinnaswamy Stadium that claimed 11 lives and has challenged his suspension order.
It also directed the Karnataka Government to reinstate him in the post he held. The CAT believes that the suspension order was not based on any convincing materials
"The Suspension order has been passed in a mechanical manner and the order is not based upon any convincing materials. The police officers have been suspended without any sufficient material or grounds” said CAT.
The Tribunal further said that it expects that the government “will give the same benefit to the other officers who were suspended by the same order”. Former city Police Commissioner B. Dayananda, former DCP (Central) H.T. Shekhar, former Cubbon Park ACP Balakrishna and former Cubbon Park inspector Girish are the other four officers suspended by the same order.
“Police are neither Gods nor magicians”
In the order passed by Justice B.K. Srivastava and Administrative Member Santosh Mehra, CAT-Bangalore Branch, citing lack of time to make arrangements, said the police were also human beings and neither “God or magician” having magical powers like “Alladdin ka Chirag” to make adequate proper in such a short time.
“... The question arises whether “sufficient time” was available to the police for making the sufficient arrangements? The answer is negative,” the CAT said in its order. “Because of a shortage of time on 04.06.2025, the police were unable to make the appropriate arrangements. Sufficient time was not given to the police….It cannot be expected from the police that within a short time of about 12 hours the police will make all arrangements,” it said.
‘Prima facie, RCB is responsible for a large gathering’
In its findings, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) pointed out that the organisers of the stadium event did not follow proper procedures or take the required permissions in advance. The Tribunal referred to a letter that the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) sent to the Cubbon Park police inspector on June 3, just before the IPL finals. According to the rules under the Licensing and Controlling of Assemblies and Public Procession (Bengaluru City) Order, 2009, such events require approval at least seven days in advance from the Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), along with a security deposit. However, the Tribunal noted that none of these rules were followed. The letter wasn't sent to the proper authorities, neither to Additional Commissioner Vikash Kumar Vikash nor to the Police Commissioner, making it a clear violation of the established guidelines.
“The KSCA submitted a letter which also did not contain any request for granting the permission or for making the arrangements. The letter shows only the information regarding the intention,” the CAT said, adding, “Upon the basis of this letter, prima facie the police was not bound to give any facilities or to provide any support. In spite of that, the police provided the proper arrangements as far as possible”.
Detailing how the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) announced a victory parade repeatedly on June 4 on its social media handles, CAT observed that “prima facie it appears that the RCB is responsible for the gathering of about three to five lakh people”.
“The RCB did not take the appropriate permission or consent from the police. Suddenly, they posted on social media platforms and as a result of aforesaid information, the public gathered,” it said, referring to it as “creating nuisance without any prior permission,” elsewhere in the order.
‘No convincing materials for suspension’
Quoting from the terms of reference to the judicial inquiry commission formed by the State Government to probe the stampede case on June 5.
“Identification of persons responsible for lapses/deficiencies that led to the incident”, the CAT said that this showed “that till June 5, it was not ascertained that who are responsible for the lapses and deficiencies. The same is also reflected from the order of magisterial inquiry”.
“At the time of passing of the aforesaid order there was no convincing material for showing the default or negligence of the concerned police officers,” the CAT said in its order.
The incident happened after the Bengaluru-based franchise won their maiden IPL trophy, defeating Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the final at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.