Bengaluru, 9 June

The Karnataka High Court on Monday restrained officials from taking any coercive action against RCB and event partner DNA Entertainment Pvt Ltd till 12 June over the stampede near M Chinnaswamy Stadium that killed 11 people.

CV Nagesh, representing RCB and DNA, argued that Nikhil Sosale, Head of Marketing at RCB, was not arrested by either Ashok Nagar police (where Sosale stays) or Cubbon Park police (under whose jurisdiction the stadium falls) but by the Central Crime Branch of Bengaluru (CCB).

"It was not part of the investigation, just because the CM said CCB arrested him, even though they are not investigating the case," he contended.

The court then adjourned the hearing on petitions filed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and DNA Entertainment Pvt Ltd to 12 June. In the interim, no coercive action should be taken against the officials of the concerned, it said.

The court also noted that the petition involving Sosale would be taken up separately today.

The hearing witnessed a sharp exchange of words between senior advocate Nagesh and Advocate General Shashikiran Shetty for the State.

Nagesh argued that there was no prima facie case against his clients, and that the allegations were largely composite, involving all three parties -- KSCA, RCB and DNA and added that it was not petitioners, but the Chief Minister of Karnataka who had invited everybody. 

Shetty countered, saying it was the posts on X by both RCB and DNA that brought people to the stadium.

However, Justice Krishna Kumar said that neither party were in a position to declare what had happened.  He also asked the State to clarify how the allegations against RCB and DNA differed from those against KSCA, to whom the court had earlier granted protection from arrest.

"Except for that one sentence about free passes, everything else seems to be composite," the judge decreed.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will travel to New Delhi today to meet Congress high command, where he is expected to discuss various developments, including the stampede.

He had on Sunday claimed that "didn't have any connection with the cricket stadium" and denied direct involvement in the case.