Karnataka HC grants bail to Sosale, three more in stampede case
The judge said that merely holding top positions in the organisations was not enough to justify the petitioners’ arrest
The Karnataka high court on Thursday granted bail to Nikhil Sosale, head of marketing at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), and three others, observing that they were all arrested illegally, without any credible evidence or investigation linking them to the June 4 crush at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru that killed 11 people and injured over 50 others.
Justice SR Krishna Kumar said the police “had neither conducted any investigation nor produced any credible material” to show they had reason to believe that Sosale and the other petitioners were involved in the alleged offences at the time of their arrest.
The judge further said that merely holding top positions in the organisations was not enough to justify the petitioners’ arrest, especially when they were not named in the FIRs and no material was presented to establish their direct involvement in the incident.
Besides Sosale, the court granted bail to Sunil Mathew, Kiran Kumar S, and Shamant NP Mavinakere, all employees of the event management company DNA Entertainment Networks, who were also arrested in the same case. The court directed that all four be released from judicial custody upon surrendering their passports.
Justice Kumar observed that since the mandatory conditions under Section 35(1)(c) of the BNSS, 2023 that pertain to arresting someone without a warrant, were not met in the present case, the arrests made by the CCB following directions of the city police were prima facie illegal and arbitrary.
“The impugned arrest of the petitioners is clearly contrary to law and facts and prima facie illegal and arbitrary and the petitioners are entitled to interim bail in the present petitions,” the court said.
Justice Krishna Kumar had reserved the verdict on the bail applications filed by Sosale and the others on June 11.
At the time, senior advocate Sandesh Chouta, appearing for Sosale, had argued that his client was being unfairly held responsible. Sosale was not a decision maker, but only an employee and hence, there can be no vicarious liability, Chouta had argued.
Opposing the bail plea, Advocate General (AG) Shashi Kiran Shetty had argued that RCB bore full responsibility for the stampede that killed 11 people and injured over 50 others. The AG had said the team’s last-minute social media posts, including announcements about free passes and open invitations, had triggered the massive and unmanageable crowd outside the stadium that ultimately led to the deadly stampede.
The AG had also told the court that RCB had not sought proper permission for the celebration. “This was not a state-sponsored event. It was a private celebration organised by RCB. They simply gave an intimation, not a formal request. By the time they posted route details on June 4 morning, lakhs had already gathered,” Shetty had said.
When asked by the court if the government’s position was that RCB was entirely responsible, the AG had replied in the affirmative.
He had then cited an agreement between RCB, BCCI, and DNA Entertainment to show that RCB and DNA were responsible for all arrangements inside the statement as well as crowd management.
Sosale and the others have also challenged the legality of their arrest, alleging it was politically motivated and violated constitutional norms.
