Bengaluru, June 6 -- At 7.01am on Wednesday, as the city was still celebrating RCB's historic IPL win, a tweet lit the fuse to a tragedy no one saw coming. The team announced a grand victory parade through the heart of Bengaluru, but even as fans erupted with joy, the city's top police officers were left scrambling.

By nightfall, the celebrations had turned into chaos. Eleven people lay dead in a stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and dozens more were injured. Behind the scenes was a tale of ignored warnings, last-minute political decisions, and a police force stretched to its breaking point, according to at least three government officials and as many police officials, familiar with the planning of the two celebratory events, the...