The Karnataka High Court has approved interim bail for Nikhil Sosale, who serves as the marketing and revenue head for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), along with three executives from DNA Entertainment, following a tragic stampede at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru two weeks ago.

Sosale was detained at Kempegowda International Airport on June 6 while returning to Mumbai, just two days after the stampede during RCB's IPL victory celebration on June 4, which resulted in 11 fatalities and at least 75 injuries.

The other individuals arrested include Sunil Mathew and Kiran Kumar, who hold the positions of Director and Event Manager at DNA Networks Pvt. Ltd., respectively, as well as Shamant NP Mavinakere, a freelancer linked to the company. They were questioned regarding their alleged involvement in organizing the event.

In a ruling delivered on Thursday, Justice SR Krishna Kumar stated that there was insufficient evidence to justify the detention of Sosale and the DNA executives. He emphasized that, based on the evidence presented, their direct involvement in the unfortunate incident could not be established at this time. Sosale had described his arrest as 'arbitrary and illegal' in his plea.

The court noted, 'The petitioners, who are officials or employees of RCB and DNA, cannot be equated with the companies themselves. Without any evidence prior to their arrest linking them to the incident, they cannot be held vicariously liable for the alleged offenses, especially since they are not named as accused in the FIRs.'

This decision follows a previous ruling by the court to extend interim bail to senior officials of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), which oversees M Chinnaswamy Stadium. KSCA secretary A Shankar and treasurer ES Jairam resigned from their positions on June 7, accepting 'moral responsibility' for the circumstances that led to the deadly crowd surge.

Authorities are continuing their investigation into potential lapses in crowd management and event organization that contributed to this tragedy.