Bengaluru stampede: RCB marketing head, 3 others held at Kempegowda airport; CM Siddaramaiah’s political secretary relieved

The arrested have been identified as Nikhil Sosale, marketing head of RCB, and Sunil Mathew, Sumanth and Kiran Kumar of DNA Entertainment Private Limited. The accused were produced before the magistrate and have been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

The state government also relieved Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s political secretary, K Govindaraju, from his post. Further, Hemant M Nimbalkar, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of state intelligence, has been replaced by S Ravi.

According to a police officer, Sosale has been accused of sharing social media posts about the victory parade and free passes before the police had permitted them. The three others were responsible for security inside Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Nikhil Sosale is the marketing head of RCB.

Raids were conducted Friday morning on the residences of Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) members, but none were arrested.

Also, two more FIRs were registered based on the statements of the injured who are presently admitted to the Bowring and Lady Curzon hospital. In total, three First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered in connection with the stampede till now.

The road to Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru where the crowd had gathered. (Express photo by Jithendra M)

In the first FIR, C Venu, 21, a BCom student and a resident of Vijinapura, alleged that he had come across social media posts of RCB, which stated that there would be a victory parade of the players. “The post also stated that the tickets were available online to enter the M Chinnaswamy cricket stadium,” he said.

According to the FIR, Venu, along with his friend Vasanth and Pavan, went to gate no. 20 of the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and the police officials opened the gate around 4.30 pm. Thereafter, thousands of fans who were waiting near gate no. 6 rushed towards the open gate, leading to the stampede. Venu suffered injuries to his right leg after a barricade fell on him.

Venu alleged that the RCB franchise, KSCA, and DNA had not organised the event properly, and their negligence led to the chaos and stampede.

The police have registered a case under section 125(a) (endangering life or personal safety of others) and 125(b) (individual’s act that endangers the life or personal safety of others, resulting in hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

In another FIR filed by Rolan Gomes, 25, a resident of Mailasandra in Kengeri and a designer by profession, the complainant has alleged that due to the negligence of the accused, his right hand was broken.

Earlier, after a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Siddaramaiah had announced the suspension of Police Commissioner B Dayananda, Additional Commissioner of Police (West) Vikash Kumar Vikash, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shekhar H Tekkannavar, ACP (Cubbon Park sub-division) C Balakrishna, and police inspector Girish A K. This was the first time that a Bengaluru police commissioner had been suspended. Hours later, 1996-batch senior IPS officer Seemant Kumar Singh was appointed as the new Bengaluru city police commissioner.