The Karnataka government informed the High Court on Friday that the suspension of five officers, including senior IPS officials, following the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede was not merely for misconduct, but for their failure to act on advance information about the crowd build-up that eventually led to the tragedy.

The submission was made during the hearing of a plea filed by the state challenging a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order that had quashed the suspension of IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash.

The officer had been suspended over the stampede incident that occurred in May ahead of the RCB team's IPL 2025 victory celebration.

A division bench comprising Justice SG Pandit and Justice TM Nadaf noted that while the inquiry commission's report had been prepared, it would first need to be placed before the Legislative Council. The matter was posted for further hearing on Friday.

The government argued that although the officers were not expected to predict the stampede, they had failed to follow standard protocols despite being aware of the event for at least 24 hours. It was submitted that one officer was already facing contemplated disciplinary action, and the suspensions were a preventive measure based on administrative lapses.

Counsel for the respondents countered that the celebrations had begun with an official ceremony for the RCB team at Vidhan Soudha, attended by all state ministers. The crowd then moved toward the Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was argued that if the government had no objection to the first half of the event, it was not logical to claim that the subsequent crowd movement was entirely unforeseen.

According to a government order dated June 5, 2025, the officers suspended included IPS officer B. Dayananda (ADGP and Bengaluru Police Commissioner), IPS officer Shekar H. Tekkannavar (DCP, Central Division), C. Balakrishna (ACP, Cubbon Park), and Inspector A.K. Girish (Cubbon Park Police Station), in addition to Vikash Kumar Vikash.

Earlier, the state had submitted that even before the IPL final was played, RCB had formally applied for permission to hold a victory celebration. However, the officers allegedly began making security arrangements for the event without confirming whether such celebrations had been officially sanctioned — effectively acting, the state said, as "servants of RCB" rather than upholding their duty as public officers