An activist filed a police complaint following the Bengaluru stampede tragedy against Virat Kohli. Registered at the Cubbon Police Station, it holds the Royal Challengers Bengaluru player accountable for the deaths of 11 people and several others injured. HM Venkatesh, the activist, accused Kohli of promoting “gambling through IPL”, which led to the larger crisis at hand.
The complaint lodged by HM Venkatesh alleged that the Indian Premier League (IPL) is “not a sport but a gambling that has contaminated the game of cricket.” Venkatesh accuses Kohli to “participate in such gambling and incited people to gather in a specific place and caused this tragedy.” It urged the police to include Virat Kohli and other members of RCB in the FIR registered following the Bengaluru stampede.
However, RCB has not remained away from the radar as the Bengaluru Sessions Court took the marketing head, Nikhil Sosale and three event organisers under judicial custody. Holding them partly accountable, they were placed in a 14 day remand starting June 6. Moving to the High Court, Sosale contested his arrest declaring it was illegal and done without any preliminary enquiry.
Who are the others accused?
Earlier in the day, the Karnataka High Court granted interim relief to the office bearers of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), who had approached the court seeking the quashing of the FIR registered against them in connection with the stampede. However, the next hearing is set to be on June 9.
The accused were majorly three bodies, KSCA, RCB and DNA, the event management company responsible for the gathering at the event. However, there was no accountability from the state authorities. Passing the buck, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah suspended the Bengaluru city police Commissioner B Dayananda.
Along with Dayananda, , Additional Commissioner of Police Vikash Kumar Vikash, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shekhar HT, Assistant Commissioner of Police Balakrishna and Cubbon Park Police Inspector Girish AK were also suspended with immediate effect as per the circular issued by the government.