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Good evening, A key component of the Rafale fighter jet is about to get a Made-in-India tag. French aerospace company Dassault Aviation has signed an agreement with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. to manufacture the fuselage, the main body of the aircraft, in India. The production will serve both local and global markets. It’s a significant move for both sides. Dassault gets to ramp up its manufacturing capacity, while India takes another step forward in its aerospace journey. Tata has announced it will set up a new production facility in Hyderabad. On that note, let’s dive in 👇🏽
📝 The Debrief How confusion and chaos turned into the stampede that resulted in 11 deaths in Bengaluru In less than 24 hours since its much-loved cricketers secured a maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title victory, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) on-field achievements were overshadowed by a preventable tragedy. Eleven people lost their lives in a stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, the city’s cricketing nerve centre, and 47 others were injured, some quite severely. This should not have happened. First-person accounts from social media and other sources in the vicinity, or an area locally referred to as the Central Business District (CBD), paint a rather grim picture—one where the state government grossly underestimated the sheer number of people who would come for a victory parade that ultimately did not take place. My colleagues Sanath Prasad and Kiran Parashar pieced together Wednesday’s events in their report. The parade that wasn’t: With RCB breaking an 18-year duck, celebrations in the city broke out on Tuesday night, with large gatherings in and around MG Road, Church Street, and a few locations in CBD. What changed was the RCB team management announcing an open-bus victory parade from Vidhana Soudha (state secretariat) to the stadium at a mere 1 kilometre distance. This would then culminate in a felicitation event, for which RCB announced limited free passes available online. Their arrival schedule was posted on social media, with the team expected to reach the city’s HAL Airport by 1:30 pm, before taking a bus to the hotel and continuing their journey to the Vidhana Soudha. However, just before noon on Wednesday, the traffic police announced that there would be no victory parade after all. The buildup: RCB fans had been on the move since morning. Some made their way to Kempegowda International Airport, anticipating the team’s arrival. Hundreds of others were mainly converging towards the Chinnaswamy, eager to see the team. However, it was outside the stadium where tragedy struck. The gathered crowd, mostly without passes to enter the stadium, expected to catch a glimpse of their stars following the felicitation at the Vidhana Soudha. However, it appeared that they were unaware of the parade being called off, even as the franchise maintained that the parade was on, while advising caution and urging the public to follow the authorities. The pandemonium: The resultant on-off-on confusion culminated in tragedy at around 4 pm when Gate 3 of the stadium partially opened. A crowd composed of both ticket holders and those without attempted to break in. The stadium, with a maximum capacity of 35,000, was suddenly overwhelmed by over 200,000 to 300,000 people. The situation deteriorated due to a sudden rain shower around 5:30 pm. At Gate 7, not far from the main entry point, where rumours circulated about “free passes” being handed out, the scramble led to a stampede, with most deaths occurring in that area. Inside the stadium, however, a much-shortened programme continued, with lifelong RCBian Virat Kohli taking the mic.
✍️ From our newsroom Meghalaya murder mystery: Newlywed Raja Raghuvanshi, 28, known to his family as a "methodical" researcher, had poured months into planning what was meant to be the perfect honeymoon with his wife, 24-year-old Sonam. Their dream destination? The Instagram-famous living root bridges of Meghalaya. But just a day into their trip, on May 23, communication with the couple abruptly ceased. Their phones were switched off. Family members rushed to Meghalaya, joining local police to search for the missing couple. Bad weather complicated the efforts. On June 2, the police made a grim discovery. They located Raja's body in a deep gorge beneath the Riat Arliang parking lot. Sonam is still missing. My colleague Anand Mohan J has more on this unfolding story.
🔎 Need to know Reprieve: The Calcutta High Court has granted social media influencer Sharmistha Panoli interim bail, instructing police to provide her “appropriate protection”. Panoli was arrested on May 30 over an allegedly “offensive” video with “communal” statements. Travel ban: US President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation to restrict the entry of nationals from 12 countries into the US, citing national security concerns. Citizens from seven other countries will face partial restrictions. In another proclamation, he suspended the entry of foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programs at Harvard University. Wedding bells: Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra tied the knot with Pinaki Misra, a Supreme Court lawyer and former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP from Odisha, on May 30. The couple got married in Germany.
🎙️Expresso Playlist! In today’s Playlist, I recommend this episode from Channels with Peter Kafka about the rise of Bluesky, the social networking platform that has gradually evolved from a science project into an accidental rival to Elon Musk’s X (formerly known as Twitter), boasting around 36 million users.
✋🏽 One last thing I’ll leave you with this excellent Reuters graphic story on how Ukraine pulled off its daring ‘Operation Spider Web’ deep inside Russian territory on Sunday. Also worth reading, this profile of the Ukrainian spy agency behind the attack in the Wall Street Journal. That’s all from me today. Thank you so much for reading this edition. If you enjoy the Evening Expresso, tell your friends to subscribe to the newsletter. You can do so by signing up for the Morning Expresso. Additionally, you can reach me via email for tips, feedback, or simply to say hello! 😀 Until tomorrow, Venkat Ananth and Sonal Gupta | 
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