Hours after he was arrested in connection with the crowd chaos at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) victory celebrations, Nikhil Sosale, head of marketing for RCB at Diageo India Private Limited, has moved the Karnataka High Court seeking his release, calling the arrest arbitrary and illegal.
Nikhil was among four people taken into custody on Friday, June 6, following Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s public directive to arrest those responsible for organising the event at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where poor crowd control led to a stampede-like situation that led to the death of at least 11 people.
According to the Bar and Bench, Nikhil filed a petition on June 6, stating that his arrest was made solely on the basis of a directive from the Chief Minister and not following a police investigation.
The Cubbon Park police had registered an FIR on Thursday, June 5, against officials from RCB, the Karnataka State Cricket Association, and DNA Entertainment Networks Ltd. Later that day, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that, following a cabinet meeting, the government had decided to arrest officials responsible for the arrangements at the event.
Nikhil and four officials from DNA Networks were arrested just hours after the CM’s statement. They were taken to Cubbon Park Police Station for questioning.
In his petition, Nikhil stated, “It is clear from the timing of the Petitioner's arrest, which is evidently the result of an oral directive of the Hon'ble Chief Minister to arrest various RCB officials - that too, in the absence of any investigation whatsoever - that the Petitioner's arrest is motivated and an attempt to shift the blame of the tragedy to RCSPL and its officials.”