B’luru stampede: RCB moves HC seeking quashing of FIR, says govt permitted victory celebration

Bengaluru: The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise has approached the Karnataka High Court seeking to quash the criminal case lodged against them in the stampede case.

The case was filed by the Cubbon Park Police in Bengaluru after the June 4 stampede incident, which claimed 11 lives.

The petition has been filed by Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited and its Chief Operating Officer, Rajesh V. Menon. In their submission, the petition claims that the Congress-led government permitted RCB to hold the victory celebration at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

RCB has also submitted screenshots of a social media post on X by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. In this post, the Chief Minister invited all citizens to join the celebration, labelling the RCB team’s victory as historic. The petition further asserted that not only were RCB players invited for the felicitation, but CM Siddaramaiah also invited the entire public to the event.

The petition claimed that initiating legal proceedings against RCB by filing an FIR is unlawful and constitutes an abuse of the law.

The FIR states that RCB committed an offence by inviting the public to participate in the event, but the petition argues this cannot be considered a criminal act.

The petition highlighted that CM Siddaramaiah himself committed the same act by inviting the public to attend the event to felicitate the RCB players. It said there was no criminal intent, knowledge, or recklessness on the part of RCB.

Elaborating on the RCB’s preparations to hold the event, the petition stated that extensive discussions were held with the DNA Event Management firm and the officials of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).

The petition further underlined that the police gave oral confirmation for the victory parade and celebrations on June 4. RCB had announced that entry to the stadium was strictly upon registration on the official website and the issuance of passes. This was done to restrict the crowd to the limited capacity of the stadium, it stated.

The petition submitted that it was only on the morning of June 4 that the police orally informed them about the cancellation of the victory parade. However, at the same time, it was communicated that the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister had planned to felicitate the RCB players at the Vidhana Soudha.

Likewise, the felicitation was held at the Vidhana Soudha, and permission was then given for the RCB team to proceed to the Stadium and hold the victory celebrations, the petition stated.

RCB further claimed that it was only during the celebration that they were informed about some casualties in a stampede outside the stadium. Immediately after this, the celebration was concluded, the petition states.

The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) also directly blamed the government for the stampede incident. The High Court had previously granted immunity to the KSCA office-bearers, protecting them from forceful police action.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is most likely to get custody of Nikhil Sosale, the Marketing Head of RCB. His petition challenging his arrest by the police is also scheduled to come before the court today. Sunil Matthew, Kiran, and Sumanth from DNA Event Management are the other arrested individuals. The CID has sought custody of these four accused, who are currently lodged in the Bengaluru Central Prison.

The CID is also likely to question KSCA President Raghuram Bhat, Secretary A. Shankar, and Treasurer E.S. Jayaram, who have obtained relief from the High Court against coercive action by the police department.

Following public backlash, the state government has increased the compensation amount from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. Additionally, the government suspended five senior police officers, including the Bengaluru Police Commissioner.

IANS