Stadium Stampede: RCB marketing head among four arrested in Bengaluru; HC declines relief

The Bengaluru Police on Friday arrested four senior executives from Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and DNA Entertainment Networks in connection with the stampede near M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday that claimed 11 lives and left dozens of others injured during RCB's IPL victory celebrations.

The arrested people are RCB's head of marketing and revenue Nikhil Sosale and senior DNA Entertainment Networks executives Sunil Mathew and Kiran Kumar. Sosale and his wife are said to be a friend of Virat Kohli's family. The police took them into custody in the wee hours of Friday at Kempegowda International Airport as they tried to leave for Mumbai.

The police were on the alert ince Thursday night after chief minister Siddaramaiah ordered the arrest of senior executives of the RCB franchise, DNA Entertainment Networks and the Karnataka State Cricket Association. The CM had said that the government's preliminary findings pointed to negligence on the part of the event organisers that led to the chaos and deaths.


No Relief

The high court declined to grant interim relief to Sosale, preferring to hear the state government before taking a call, and adjourned the hearing to Monday.

Sosale moved the court on the grounds that the arrest was illegal as it had been done without a preliminary enquiry, and after the CM chaired a cabinet meeting and issued directions to the police. His counsel also said that the police inspector who registered the first information report had been suspended.