Cops resort to lathi charge at stadium

Updated on: 25 February,2011 07:08 AM IST |
Madhusudan Maney |

To disperse an angry and frustrated crowd; fans break CCTV, grilled fence

To disperse an angry and frustrated crowd; fans break CCTV, grilled fence

Fall in line: The police action caused a stampede among the crowd,
injuring many cricket fans. Pic/Ramesh H S

Fans also broke down a grilled fence, and the police had to impose a lathi charge to bring the situation under control. However, a police official from Cubbon Park said that they had not received any complaint from the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).

The lathi charge caused a stampede among the crowd, and many of them were injured. One of them had to be taken to the hospital, where the doctors declared him out of danger. KSCA Secretary and former Indian pacer Javagal Srinath said, "Most of them wanted to watch the match at theu00a0stadium, but its impossible. Even if we were to double or triple the capacity, it would not have been sufficient."

Srinath added, "Around 7,000 tickets were sold at the gate, and few more tickets might be made available in a day or two which can be booked online through our official ticketing partners."

The lower denomination tickets were sold out early and the higher denominations were available for some time.
KSCA spokesperson Sujith Somasundar told MiD DAY, "This is a pre-booked match by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as they have a large stake in it. We just provide them the venue."

"We are lucky, because the match was shifted from Kolkata to Bangalore." "The tickets have been given to the ICC, BCCI, Club members, Cricket clubs, players, cricket associations throughout the country," he said.

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