KSCA secretary and treasurer resign over RCB IPL 2025 victory event tragedy
The resignation letters were submitted to KSCA President Raghuram Bhat on Friday night
Two senior officials of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) — Secretary A Shankar and Treasurer ES Jairam — have resigned from their posts, taking “moral responsibility” for the tragic stampede that occurred during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) IPL 2025 victory celebration on Wednesday.
The resignation letters were submitted to KSCA President Raghuram Bhat on Friday night.
The celebratory event, marking RCB’s maiden IPL title win after 18 seasons, ended in disaster, claiming 11 lives and injuring several others. In their communication to the KSCA, Shankar and Jairam stated:
“Due to the unforeseen and unfortunate events that have unfolded in the last two days, and though our role was very limited, we have, owing to moral responsibility, tendered our resignations as Secretary and Treasurer of the KSCA.”
The Bengaluru Police filed a First Information Report (FIR) on Thursday, naming RCB as the primary accused.
The FIR stated that the police had denied RCB permission to host the event at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium — the location where the stampede occurred. Also named in the FIR were DNA Entertainment, RCB’s event partner, and the KSCA, which oversees stadium operations.
On Friday, police confirmed the arrest of Nikhil Sosale, RCB’s head of marketing and revenue.
The arrest followed directives from newly appointed Police Commissioner SK Singh, who replaced his predecessor amid growing public and political pressure following the incident.
Later that day, the KSCA filed a writ petition challenging the FIR. In the petition, the association described the police action as a “knee-jerk reaction” driven by political pressure from the Karnataka state government.
The KSCA maintained that the incident was a tragic accident triggered by an unexpected crowd surge and argued that they bore no responsibility for gate or crowd management — duties they said fell under the purview of RCB, the event organisers and the police.
KSCA’s legal counsel also expressed concern over Sosale’s arrest, calling it a targeted move. Sosale has reportedly approached the Karnataka High Court to contest his arrest, according to Bar and Bench, a legal news platform.
RCB has not yet released an official statement regarding Sosale’s arrest. However, on Thursday, the franchise announced a compensation of INR 10 lakh for the families of each deceased victim and committed to covering the medical expenses of the injured.
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