Karnataka High Court denies interim relief to RCB marketing head Nikhil Sosale after arrest over Chinnaswamy stampede

Royal Challengers Bengaluru marketing and revenue head Nikhil Sosale has moved the Karnataka High Court after getting arrested by Bengaluru Police in connection with the stampede that had occurred outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday and had left 11 dead in its wake.

Sosale had been arrested in the early hours of Friday at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, from where he was scheduled to catch a flight reportedly for Mumbai. Besides the RCB marking chief, three executives belonging to event management company DNA Entertainment were also detained at the airport in what was a joint operation between the Central Crime Branch and Bengaluru Police.

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Sosale and the DNA employees were later taken to Cubbon Park Police Station, whose jurisdiction covers the iconic cricket stadium where a stampede broke out on Wednesday while a felicitation event was being held to celebrate RCB’s maiden IPL title. The tragic incident left 11 dead and left several more – as high as 75 according to some reports – injured.

Sosale yet to receive interim relief after moving Karnataka HC

Sosale, a marketing and revenue professional with more than 15 years of experience in the sports and beverage sectors, had moved the Karnataka High Court contending that the manner in which he was arrested at the airport was illegal, arbitrary and violative of his fundamental rights, according to Bar and Bench.

In his petition, Sosale added that the arrest was made on the directive of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and was carried out before the police had even begun investigating into the matter, which he claimed was in violation of his right to freedom under Article 19 as well as principles of natural justice.

“It is clear from the timing of the Petitioner’s arrest, which is evidently the result of an oral directive of the Hon’ble Chief Minister to arrest various RCB officials - that too, in the absence of any investigation whatsoever - that the Petitioner’s arrest is motivated and an attempt to shift the blame of the tragedy to RCSPL and its officials,” Sosale’s petition read.

Justice SR Krishna Kumar, however, did not provide Sosale interim relief from police custody, stating that the Karnataka High Court cannot pass any order without hearing the State in the ‘Nikhil Sosale v. State of Karnataka’ case and has adjourned the hearing for Monday.

“I will have to give chance [to the State]. Any matter, wherever a person is in custody … which is moved at 2:30, I am not passing order without giving a chance. I cannot do it right now,” read the statement from Karnataka HC.

Conditional relief for KSCA office-bearers

The court, however, granted interim conditional relief to Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) officials, who were also part of the group against whom CM Siddaramaiah had ordered action and were included in a First Information Report (FIR) registered at the Cubbon Park Police Station.

Justice Krishna Kumar added that no coercive action should be taken against the KSCA officials for now, so long as they co-operate in the ongoing investigation and do not leave the jurisdiction of the court.

The Karnataka government had setup a one-member commission headed by retired Karnataka High Court Justice John Michael Cunha to investigate the stampede, that has since snowballed into a political battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party – which has been in power at the Centre since 2014 – and Congress.