Chinnaswamy stampede: Karnataka High Court grants interim bail to RCB marketing head, DNA reps

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday granted interim bail to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) marketing head Nikhil Sosale and three others associated with event management company DNA, who were arrested on June 6 in connection with the June 4 Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede..Justice SR Krishna Kumar passed the order today, in which he observed that the arrested persons cannot remain in jail in the absence of any material to establish their personal involvement in the events that led to the stampede. "The petitioners herein who are officials / employees / directors of RCB and DNA cannot be equated with the said companies and in the absence of any material prior to their arrest to establish their involvement and participation in the event so as to cause the mishap, the petitioners cannot be held to be vicariously liable for the alleged offences especially when they are not even named as accused persons in the subject FIRs," the Court said. .The Court proceeded to order the immediate release of all four persons arrested, namely Nikhil Sosale, DNA Vice-President Sunil Mathew, its Manager of Operations Kiran Kumar S and one Shamant NP Mavinakere (petitioners).The Court also found merit in the petitioners' argument that they were not given mandatory documents such as grounds of arrest, arrest memo etc., at the time of their arrest. The Court underscored that the requirement of informing the person arrested of the grounds of arrest is not a formality but a mandatory constitutional requirement."At the time of causing arrest of the petitioners the investigating officer has not furnished the required checklist/mandatory documents such as arrest intimation, memorandum of arrest, grounds of arrest, inspection memo in accordance with the guidelines mandated in Arnesh Kumar’s case supra and DK Basu’s case supra. Therefore, on this score also, I am of the considered opinion that the arrest of the petitioners is vitiated and is liable to be quashed," the Court held. .Interim bail was granted to the petitioners, subject to various conditions including that they must cooperate with the probe, not tamper with any evidence and execute a personal bond of ₹1 lakh with two sureties.Further, the petitioners were ordered to deposit their passports before the trial court within two weeks of their release. They are presently in judicial custody.They were also ordered not to leave India without prior permission of the Court..The Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede unfolded after a huge crowd of people gathered at the stadium on June 4 in hopes of meeting the RCB cricket team after their first Indian Premier League (IPL) victory in 18 years. Around 5 lakh people are said to have rushed to the stadium to take part in the event, although the stadium was meant to accommodate only around 33,000 people.11 people died and 56 were left injured in the ensuing stampede.The State blamed the event organisers for holding the event without proper intimation to the State authorities, and the organisers blamed the State authorities for not taking sufficient steps to manage the anticipated crowd. A criminal case was registered against officials of RCB, the event management company DNA and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), which makes decisions on renting out the stadium.On June 6, Sosale and DNA Vice-President Sunil Mathew, its Manager of Operations Kiran Kumar S and one Shamant NP Mavinakere were arrested in the case. .All the accused, including RCB and DNA in their capacity as companies, eventually moved the High Court with petitions challenging the arrests as well as the first information reports (FIRs) registered in the matter. .Senior Advocate Sandesh Chouta led arguments for Sosale. He argued:- Sosale and others were selectively arrested due to pressure from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who had publicly announced that arrests would be made.- The June 6 arrests were illegally made by the Central Crime Branch (CCB), which did not have any jurisdiction over this case, more so when the investigation into the stampede had already been transferred to the Crime Investigation Department on June 5. - Documents that must mandatorily be handed over to arrested persons were not given while making the arrests, which rendered the arrests illegal. They were only handed over much later, after the CCB handed the detained accused persons over to the police. During a hearing, RCB's counsel, Senior Advocate CV Nagesh added that it was the Chief Minister who invited people to take part in victory celebrations and that the blame could not be fastened on the RCB. .The State’s arguments in the matter were led by Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty, who argued:- RCB and DNA did not seek permission from the State authorities before they decided that victory celebrations would be held at the stadium. - The stadium event was a private one organised by RCB and DNA; they had a responsibility to ensure crowd management at the gates and make security arrangements there.- The arrests in the stampede case were not triggered by the Chief Minister's statements; the arrests were made because the accused were trying to escape the law.- All necessary documents were given to the accused at the time of their arrest, and later also provided to the accused's lawyers/family, without any unreasonable delay. No prejudice was caused to the accused.- CCB did not make the formal arrest of the accused persons. Rather, on a request by IPS officer Hakay Akshay Machhindra - who is presently holding an additional charge as DCP (Central) following the suspension of Shekhar H Tekkannavar from the post - requested the CCB to apprehend the accused. The formal arrest took place after the CCB handed over the accused to the police. As such, there is no illegality in the arrests. Although the inquiry was transferred to the CID on June 5, the investigation was handed over to it by the police only on June 6 (after the arrests)..The Court, however, has rejected this argument, concluding that,"The arrest of the petitioners was caused by the CCB who did not have any jurisdiction or authority of law to cause the arrest of the petitioners which stands vitiated on this ground also.".RCB and Nikhil Sosale were represented by Chouta and Senior Advocate CK Nandakumar, assisted by Advocates Raghuram Cadambi, Lekha Chandrasekhar, Tamoghna Manish Pallinti and Shyam Harindra.