Bengaluru stampede: RCB employee granted interim bail

Nikhil Sosale, Head of Marketing & Revenue for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), has been granted interim bail but is required to surrender his passport.

Nikhil Sosale has been asked to surrender his passport. © BCCI

Sosale, along with Kiran Kumar (Senior Event Manager) and Sunil Mathew (Vice President - Business Affairs) of DNA Entertainment Network, were arrested on Friday, June 6, following the tragic stampede on June 4. The incident occurred outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium during RCB's IPL victory celebrations, resulting in 11 fatalities.

Sosale was apprehended by the Central Crime Branch at the airport in the early hours of June 6. His legal counsel challenged the legality of the arrest in the Karnataka High Court on that Friday. After hearing arguments from both sides, the High Court announced its decision on Thursday, June 12.

The First Information Report (FIR) filed by the police stated that a massive crowd gathered at the stadium for the event. "Lakhs of people gathered at the stadium for the programme and the crowd became uncontrollable due to the confusion of organisers on how to allow the people into the stadium which has a seating capacity of around 35,000. The stampede incident and chaos occurred at gate no. 2, 2A, 6, 7, 15,17, 18, 20, and 21, resulting in the death of 11 people and injuring 56. The gathering of lakhs of people outside the stadium is due to the RCB announcement at their official website about the free entry pass distribution, leading to the incident."