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‘I want to stay here too’: Father weeps at grave of 21-year-old son killed in Bengaluru stampede
Father of deceased Bhoomik Lakshman, was seen lying flat on the ground at his son’s grave, inconsolable and refusing to leave.
Days after a stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy stadium claimed 11 lives during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) IPL victory celebrations, a video shared by Karnataka BJP shows a grieving father at his son's grave.
BT Lakshman, father of 21-year-old Bhoomik Lakshman who died in the tragedy, was seen lying flat on the ground at his son’s grave in Hassan district, inconsolable and refusing to leave.
“I want to stay here too, I don’t want to go anywhere now,” he said with his voice choked with grief. Some people can be seen around him trying to reassure him.
The video was shared by the official ‘X’ handle of the Karnataka BJP, which is blaming the Congress-led government for the incident, labelling it as a “state orchestrated” tragedy.
“Can you give this father his son back, sitting in front of his son's grave and crying?!” the social media post said.
BJP's post read: “Murderous CM @siddaramaiah, murderous DCM @DKShivakumar. If you had made up your mind, you could have taken a photo with your children and grandchildren in a luxurious hotel with a cup. But your insistence on taking a photo on the steps of the Vidhana Soudha has made 11 families wash their hands in tears every day.”
Bengaluru stampede
The stampede occurred on Wednesday, June 4 when thousands of fans gathered outside the stadium for RCB’s victory event. A lack of crowd control and poor planning has been cited by officials as contributing factors to the deadly incident, which also left 56 people injured.
In response, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday increased the compensation for the families of the deceased from Rs10 lakh to ₹25 lakh.
An FIR was registered Thursday against RCB, event organiser DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt. Ltd., and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), as investigations continue into one of the worst crowd disasters the city has seen in recent years.
Meanwhile, police have arrested two RCB staff members over allegations of event mismanagement.
The KSCA president Raghu Ram Bhat and other office bearers have approached the Karnataka High Court seeking to quash the FIR filed against them.
