India police arrest four after deadly cricket stampede: Reports
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People walk past scattered shoes left behind following a stampede outside a cricket stadium in Bengaluru, India, on June 4.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BENGALURU - Indian police have arrested four people, including a senior executive at Indian Premier League (IPL) winning cricket team Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), after 11 fans were crushed to death
The other three are from an event management company.
Hundreds of thousands had packed the streets in the southern tech city of Bengaluru on June 4 to welcome home Virat Kohli and his RCB teammates after they beat Punjab Kings in the IPL finals.
But the euphoria of the vast crowds ended in disaster when the 11 mostly young fans died in a stampede near the city’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the players were parading the trophy.
Media outlet India Today said on June 6 that RCB’s head of marketing Nikhil Sosale was arrested at the Bengaluru airport.
The Indian Express newspaper reported that he was arrested along with an executive from event management company DNA.
The reported arrests come hours after Karnataka state’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that “legal action has been taken against the representatives of RCB”, as well as the event organisers, and the state’s cricket association.
Mr Siddaramaiah said a first information report, which marks the start of a police investigation, had been “registered against them”.
Local media reported that the charges include culpable homicide not amounting to murder, among others.
Mr Siddaramaiah, whose name has only one word, said top police officers in Bengaluru, including the city’s police commissioner, have been suspended.
“These officers appear to be irresponsible and negligent, and it has been decided to suspend them,” Mr Siddaramaiah said.
The dead, mostly aged between 14 and 29, were among a sea of people who had poured onto the streets to catch a glimpse of their heroes.
RCB has offered financial aid of US$11,655 (S$14,975) to each family of those killed, calling the deaths “unfortunate”.
Indian media have widely reported that the team earned US$2.3 million in prize money alone for taking the title on June 4.
Kohli, who was the top scorer in the final, said he was “at a loss for words” after celebrations of a dream IPL crown turned to tragedy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the accident “absolutely heartrending”.
Mr Siddaramaiah said earlier that the stadium had a capacity of “only 35,000 people, but 200,000-300,000 people came”. AFP
