Two senior officials of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), secretary A Shankar and treasurer ES Jairam, have resigned from their positions citing “moral responsibility” for Wednesday’s stampede at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)’s IPL 2025 victory celebration. KSCA president Raghuram Bhat accepted their resignation in an emergency meeting of the managing committee.
Bhatt declined to respond if the KSCA was responsible for the stampede, saying he would address the media at an appropriate time once the court hearings and the findings of the one-person panel appointed by the Karnataka government were concluded.
During the event, planned to celebrate RCB’s first IPL title win in 18 attempts, 11 people died, and several others were injured.
In the communication to the KSCA on Friday night, Shankar and Jairam wrote: “Due to the unforeseen and unfortunate events that have unfolded in the last two days, and though our role was very limited, but owing moral responsibility, we wish to state that last night we have tendered our resignation to our respective posts as secretary and treasurer of the KSCA.”
The Bengaluru Police filed a first information report (FIR) against the RCB franchise on Thursday. In the FIR, which has been seen by ESPNcricinfo, the police have said that they had denied RCB permission to conduct the event at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, around which the stampede occurred. RCB were listed as the first accused in the FIR, along with DNA Entertainment, the franchise’s event partners, and the KSCA, which is in charge of the stadium.
On Friday, the police confirmed the arrest of Nikhil Sosale, the marketing and revenue head of RCB, acting on the directive of newly-appointed police commissioner SK Singh, who took over after his predecessor was removed from the post by Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah in the wake of the incident.
Later in the day, the KSCA filed a writ petition, in which they argued that the FIR against them was a “knee-jerk” reaction by the police, done under pressure from the state government.
The KSCA further stated that the incident was an accident caused by an unexpected rush and crowd surge, and that no intent or motive could be attributed to the petitioners. It emphasised that gate and crowd management were not the KSCA’s responsibility, but that of RCB’s, the event organisers, and the police.
The counsel defending KSCA had also raised concerns over the arrest of Sosale, claiming it indicated a targeted approach. Sosale has challenged his arrest, and approached the Karnataka High Court, according to Bar and Bench, an Indian legal news platform.
RCB has yet to issue an official statement following the arrest. On Thursday, however, the franchise announced a compensation of one million Indian rupees for each of the deceased, and pledged to cover the medical expenses of those injured in the incident.
Source: ESPNcricinfo
-Agencies
