New Delhi: Nikhil Sosale, the Head of Marketing and revenue at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), has been granted interim release by the Karnataka High Court in the Bengaluru stampede case, but has also been asked to surrender his passport to the authorities. Sosale was arrested last week, along with two other employees of the DNA Entertainment Network – Kiran Kumar (Senior Event Manager) and Sunil Mathew (Vice President – Business Affairs).
The arrests were made last Friday (June 6) in the aftermath of the stampede outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru amid RCB’s maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title celebrations on Wednesday (June 4) that cost the lives of 11 people. According to the investigation, a social media post by the RCB, which was made just a couple of hours before the tragic incident, inviting the fans to their IPL victory parade, luring them of free passes, was responsible as lakhs of people thronged to the gates of the 35,000-seater Chinnaswamy ground – the home of RCB.
🚨 RCB Victory Parade: Today at 5 pm IST. ‼️
Victory Parade will be followed by celebrations at the Chinnaswamy stadium.
We request all fans to follow guidelines set by police and other authorities, so that everyone can enjoy the roadshow peacefully.
Free passes (limited… pic.twitter.com/raJMXlop5O
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) June 4, 2025
Sosale was apprehended from the airport by the Central Crime Branch in the wee hours of Friday and was presented in the High Court the same day when Sosale’s counsel had questioned the legality of the arrest, but the case was adjourned to the start of this week. The honourable court heard the arguments from both sides until Wednesday and announced its decision on Thursday afternoon.
What did the police FIR read?
The Bengaluru police had filed a First Information Report (FIR) against RCB soon after the stampede occurred, as their preliminary investigation was completed. The FIR, which led to the arrests of the above-mentioned three men, read, “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 gates 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,” the FIR further read.
Nikhil Sosale was arrested on June 6 in the aftermath of the stampede outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium during RCB’s maiden IPL title celebrations on June 4, which resulted in the deaths of 11 people. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
