RCB, event organisers move Karnataka High Court to cancel case over stampede

A petition has been filed in the Karnataka High Court by event management firm DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt Ltd and IPL cricket franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) seeking to quash the FIR registered against them in connection with the stampede incident at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium that claimed eleven lives.

In its plea, DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt. Ltd stated that the incident occurred due to failures on the part of the state police, alleging that the police did not adequately manage the large crowds that had gathered for the public event.

The company submitted that there were not enough officers deployed at the stadium and claimed that most of the police personnel had been stationed near the Vidhana Soudha, leaving the stadium vulnerable to uncontrolled crowd surges.

The High Court is expected to take up the matter this afternoon, when it is also scheduled to hear a separate petition filed by Nikhil Sosale, the marketing head of Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited. Sosale, on Friday, has challenged his arrest in the same case, calling it illegal and seeking relief from the court.

In a petition filed before the court, Sosale contended that the manner in which he was arrested was illegal, arbitrary and in violation of his fundamental rights. Sosale’s petition argues that his arrest was not based on any investigation and appears to have been the result of political pressure. “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 Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited (RCSPL) and its officials,” the petition states.

The Cubbon Park Police had earlier registered a case against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt Ltd and the Karnataka State Cricket Association, citing various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.