Bengaluru: In the tragic aftermath of celebrations following the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) historic IPL victory, a deeply emotional video of a grieving father mourning the death of his son, whom he lost in the stampede, has surfaced on social media.
The incident, which occurred on Wednesday, June 4, near the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, claimed 11 lives and left 47 injured in a horrific crush.
BT Lakshma, father of 21-year-old Bhumik Lakshman, is seen in the widely circulated clip weeping at his son’s grave in Hassan district, Karnataka. Bhumik, a final-year engineering student, had travelled to Bengaluru to witness the RCB team’s celebratory procession when the stampede unfolded.
“I don’t want to go anywhere else now. I want to stay here too. What happened to my son should not happen to anyone," Lakshma said, lying beside the grave.
According to The News Minute, he had also pleaded with officials not to perform a post-mortem, saying, “I had only one son… please don’t cut his body into pieces.”
BJP Lashes Out at Congress Over Stampede Tragedy
In a scathing attack on Congress, the Karnataka BJP took to X (formerly Twitter), and accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar of prioritising photo opportunities over public safety. “Your insistence on taking a photo on the steps of Vidhana Soudha has made 11 families wash their hands in tears every day,” the BJP’s official state handle posted in Kannada.
The Congress, in response, condemned the BJP for politicising the tragedy. The state government has since suspended five senior police officials, including the Bengaluru Police Commissioner. Disciplinary action was also taken against CM Siddaramaiah’s political secretary K Govindaraj and the intelligence chief, both of whom were removed from their posts.
Four individuals have been arrested in connection with the incident.
