India police arrest two after deadly cricket stampede Reports

BENGALURU - Indian police have arrested two people, including a senior executive at Indian Premier League (IPL) winning cricket team Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB),after 11 fans were crushed to death during victory celebrations, local media reported on June 6.

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, who uses only one name, 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