Bengaluru stampede: Four RCB, event management firm officials taken into police custody

Nikhil Sosale — RCB's marketing and revenue head — and Sunil Mathew and Kiran Kumar from DNA Entertainment are among those undergoing questioning.

Published on: Jun 6, 2025, 12:04:24 IST

By HT News Desk

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Four officials from the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and DNA entertainment networks private limited – an event management firm – were taken into police custody on Friday.

An ambulance arrives at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium as fans gather to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricketers, winners of the Indian Premier League, in Bengaluru. (AP)

According to news agency PTI, Nikhil Sosale — RCB's marketing and revenue head — and Sunil Mathew and Kiran Kumar from DNA Entertainment are among those undergoing questioning.

The arrests come after a stampede incident near the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday killed 11 people and injured over 50 others. A massive crowd had gathered near the Bengaluru stadium to celebrate RCB''s maiden victory in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The officials were taken into custody in a joint operation by the Bengaluru police and the crime branch, PTI quoted police sources as saying. Some of them were taken into custody from the Kempegowda International Airport, located on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

This comes in the wake of an FIR registered in connection with the stampede, in which both RCB and DNA Entertainment were named. The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has also been named in the complaint.

The police action comes a day after Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah directed senior officers, including the DGP and IGP, to arrest representatives of event managers belonging to RCB and DNA entertainment. The Karnataka CM said that prima facie there had been an “irresponsibility” and "carelessness" on both their parts.

FIR against Royal Challengers Bangalore

RCB, along with DNA entertainment and the administrative committee of the KSCA, was named in the FIR over the stampede incident in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

The complaint was registered by the Cubbon Park police under sections sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 115 (Voluntarily causing hurt), 118 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by using dangerous weapons or means), 190 (liability of members of an unlawful assembly for offences committed in pursuit of a common object), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging their duty), 125(12) (acts endangering life or personal safety of others), 142 (unlawful assembly) and 121 (abetment of an offence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

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HT News Desk
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