Karnataka HC Grants Interim Relief To KSCA Officials In Bengaluru Stampede Case

The Karnataka High Court directed the state police not to take any coercive action against KSCA until further orders.

The Karnataka High Court on Friday granted interim relief to the office bearers of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), who had approached the court seeking the quashing of the FIR registered against them in connection with the stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, which claimed the lives of 11 people.

In an interim order, the court directed the state police to not take any coercive action against them until further orders. The High Court adjourned the case to June 9.

KSCA President Raghu Ram Bhat, Secretary A Shankar, Treasurer ES Jairam petition, and other KSCA office bearers moved the High Court seeking to quash the FIR.

Marketing and Revenue Head of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Nikhil Sosale also approached the High Court challenging his arrest in connection with the stampede.

Sosale was arrested by the Bengaluru Police in the early hours of June 6. He has contended that the arrest was illegal, arbitrary and not in accordance with the law.

He claimed that he was arrested without any materials and even before the police had conducted a preliminary enquiry. He has thus sought to declare his arrest as illegal.

On Thursday, the Bengaluru police registered an FIR against the RCB franchise; DNA Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., an event management company; and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) for culpable homicide, illegal assembly, and other serious charges.

A day after the stampede that claimed the lives 11 people, the Karnataka Government suspended multiple IPS officers, including the Bengaluru city police Commissioner, B Dayananda.

Apart from Dayananda, Additional Commissioner of Police Vikash Kumar Vikash, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shekhar HT, Assistant Commissioner of Police Balakrishna and Cubbon Park Police Inspector Girish AK were also suspended with immediate effect.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for politicising the recent stampede. His remarks came after the BJP accused the Congress-led state government of making the police a "scapegoat" in the incident.

CM Siddaramaiah said the state government has already taken action against officials who were found to be "visibly responsible" and "negligent in their duty."

"They are doing it for politics. I don't do politics. We have taken action against those who were visibly responsible and found to be negligent in their duty," the Chief Minister said.

Meanwhile, Karnataka BJP President BY Vijayendra accused the state government of only acting when pressure was put on them.