‘My son will not come back,’ says Bengaluru stampede victim’s father after being handed compensation

Four days after 11 people died in the stampede at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru after a huge crows of fans gathered to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL trophy win, Devraj, the father of one of the deceased, was handed a cheque of the compensation on Sunday but said in a gloomy voice that it won’t bring his son back, who died on June 4.

“I have been given a cheque of ₹25 lakhs, but my son will not come back. I will not use this money for my benefit... I will put it in the account of my daughter and her mother and keep the money for her future,” he said.

Manoj Kumar, 18, a second-year BBM student at Presidency College, was the son of Devaraj NT, a pani puri vendor.

Earlier, while reacting to the government’s compensation announcement, a distraught Devaraj said, “I am ready to give Rs 50 lakh…Rs 1 crore. Will they get my son back?”

Tumkur DC Subha Kalyan said, “11 people lost their lives, one of them was Manoj Kumar from Tumkur district. Today, we received an order from the CM’s office to immediately disburse a relief amount of Rs 25 lakh to his father, Devraj. We have handed over the cheque to him.”

The stampede occurred on the evening of June 4 in front of the stadium after a huge crowd of fans gathered to participate in the celebrations of RCB’s first-ever IPL victory.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the venue could not handle the size of the crowd, adding that the stadium’s capacity was 35,000, but 200,000 to 300,000 people had turned up for the celebrations.

The state government has appointed a one-member inquiry commission led by retired High Court judge Justice John Michael D’Cunha to investigate the tragedy.

The government had earlier announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh but later increased it to ₹25 lakh.

The RCB franchise has announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh to each victim’s family and promised a support fund to assist those who were injured in the incident.