Bengaluru: Four people were taken into custody in Bengaluru Friday morning in connection with Wednesday’s stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium amid RCB’s IPL victory celebrations.
The four include Royal Challengers Bengaluru marketing head Nikhil Sosale, and three employees of DNA Entertainment Networks—Kiran Kumar, senior event manager; Sunil Mathew, vice-president of business affairs; and Sumanth. DNA Entertainment is the firm that organised the celebration event.
“As of now, only these people have been arrested,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.
The four were kept in Bengaluru’s Cubbon Park Police Station upon arrest, and taken to Bowring Hospital for medical examination around 11 am.
This comes a day after the Cubbon Park Police Station filed a suo motu FIR against RCB, DNA Entertainment and the administrative committee of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). According to media reports, Several KSCA members were untraceable, and no one from the body has been taken into custody yet.
“We have arrested a few people, and are taking whatever legal steps as per the FIR that has been registered at Cubbon Park station,” Seemanth Kumar Singh, the newly appointed Bengaluru city police commissioner, told ThePrint Friday.
The police will take action against any other individuals as and when their respective roles surface in the probe, he added.
Calls by ThePrint to spokespersons of RCB and DNA Entertainment went unanswered. ThePrint also tried reaching out to KSCA secretary A. Shankar for a comment via call, but no response was received.
The Siddaramaiah government has held the police, event organisers and venue operators responsible for the mismanagement, which resulted in the tragedy killing 11 people, and injuring several others.
On Thursday, hours after the FIR was filed, Siddaramaiah announced the suspension of Bengaluru city police chief B. Dayananda and at least four other senior officers.
Among other suspended officers are Additional Commissioner of Police (West) Vikash Kumar Vikash, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shekhar H. Tekkannavar, and Additional Commissioner (Cubbon Park) C. Balakrishna. Cubbon Park inspector A.K. Girish, who had filed the suo motu FIR, was also suspended.
Meanwhile, the Opposition has accused the Congress government of “making scapegoats” and not taking accountability for the stampede itself.
Reacting to the arrests of RCB and DNA entertainment officials, R. Ashoka, leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka assembly, wrote on X, “The wolves in @INCKarnataka Govt continue to hunt for scapegoats to absolve themselves from the sin of Bengaluru Stampede.”
The wolves in @INCKarnataka Govt continue to hunt for scapegoats to absolve themselves from the sin of Bengaluru Stampede.
Shame on CM @siddaramaiah and DCM @DKShivakumar. First they killed 11 innocent citizens, then they killed the morale of the police dept by suspending… https://t.co/Rv0m4izGE7
— R. Ashoka (@RAshokaBJP) June 6, 2025
Speaking to reporters Friday, Siddaramaiah said that the Opposition is trying to politicise the issue. “They (Opposition) are speaking for political reasons. I won’t politicise the issue. On the face of it, those responsible for it and those who did not carry out their responsibilities properly are being pulled up.”
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)