Bengaluru stampede: KSCA secretary, treasurer resign, says ‘though our role was very limited…’

The secretary and treasurer of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) resigned from their posts on Thursday, taking moral responsibility for the stampede outside the Bengaluru stadium that led to the death of 11 people during RCB's IPL trophy celebrations.

In a joint statement, former secretary A Shankar and treasurer ES Jairam said they had submitted their resignations on Thursday night to the KSCA president, news agency PTI reported.

The statement read, “...due to the unforeseen and unfortunate events that have unfolded in the last two days, and though our role was very limited, we wish to state that we have tendered our resignation to our respective posts as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Karnataka State Cricket Association.”

A stampede occurred on Wednesday evening in front of the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, where a large number of people thronged to participate in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team's IPL victory celebrations.

The Bengaluru Police had on Thursday registered an FIR against the RCB franchise, DNA Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., an event management company; and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) for “culpable homicide, illegal assembly, and other serious charges”.

On Friday, a Sessions Court in Bengaluru remanded four individuals, including senior RCB official Nikhil Sosale and three event managers, to 14 days of judicial custody in connection with the stampede.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court granted interim relief to the office bearers of the KSCA), who had approached the court seeking the quashing of the FIR registered against them in connection with the stampede, which claimed the lives of 11 people.

KSCA president Raghuram Bhat, secretary Shankar and treasurer Jayaram had earlier submitted in the Karnataka High Court that the gate management and crowd management were not the responsibility of the association and they had sought permission to hold RCB IPL celebrations at Vidhan Soudha.

The Karnataka Police also suspended multiple IPS officers, including the Bengaluru city police Commissioner, B Dayananda.

(With inputs from agencies)