Bengaluru, 8 July

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday restrained the State government from filing the final report in the Chinnaswamy stampede case against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and DNA Entertainment Networks Ltd, without prior permission.

While hearing multiple petitions related to the incident, Justice SR Krishna Kumar said: “Relist on 5 August. Meanwhile, the respondent is directed not to file the final report without leave of the court. The interim order passed earlier in all the petitions will continue until the next date of hearing.”

The counsel appearing for Royal Challengers Sports Private Limited (RCSPL), which owns and manages the RCB franchise, told the court that the company has been fully cooperating with the investigation.

However, he raised concerns that filing a chargesheet at this stage could cause serious and irreversible reputational damage to the company.

Following this, the court orally instructed the government not to proceed with the final report without explicit permission.

“Don’t file without leave of court,” the judge stated. “Otherwise, if you file, then they will say permit us to amend [petition] or file a fresh one. So, you complete everything”.