The Karnataka High Court has relaxed travel restrictions on RCB Marketing Head Nikhil Sosale, allowing him to travel within India for work. However, his passport remains surrendered, and he cannot go abroad.
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court in Bengaluru has eased a key bail condition for Nikhil Sosale, the Marketing Head of IPL team Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), who is one of the accused in the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede case.
Sosale was arrested on June 6 and released on bail six days later. As part of his earlier bail conditions, he was not allowed to leave Bengaluru city.
Sosale had requested the court to modify this travel restriction, saying that his job as Marketing Head required him to travel across India for work.
His lawyer, Senior Advocate Sandesh J Chouta, told the court that his client’s professional responsibilities involved frequent travel and that it was becoming difficult to perform his duties while being restricted to one city.
The High Court agreed with these arguments after reviewing the case records. The court said that Sosale’s role clearly required him to travel often within India and that he had promised to keep the investigating officer informed about all his movements.
Quoting from the court’s order, the bench said,
“It is expedient to allow the application. The condition is relaxed subject to the petitioner informing the investigating officer before leaving the city and also upon his return.”
This means that Sosale can now travel anywhere within India for professional reasons, as long as he informs the police before leaving Bengaluru and after coming back. The court considered his assurance reasonable and granted him relief.
Senior Advocate Sandesh J Chouta also pointed out that similar restrictions on other accused persons in the case had already been relaxed earlier.
These included co-accused linked with M/s DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt. Ltd. and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), both of whom had earlier filed petitions seeking the same relief, which the court had allowed.
However, the High Court made it clear that one condition from the original bail order would continue to remain in force — Sosale must surrender his passport and cannot travel abroad.
The court specifically clarified that the relaxation applies only to domestic travel within India and does not permit any international trips.
The tragic Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede took place on the evening of June 4 outside the cricket stadium in Bengaluru.
The incident happened when a large crowd gathered to take part in the RCB team’s IPL victory celebrations. In the chaos, eleven people lost their lives and several others were injured.
The case has drawn widespread attention, as multiple people and organizations have been named as accused, including event management companies and cricket association officials.
The High Court’s decision to relax Sosale’s travel restriction comes as part of ongoing legal proceedings related to the investigation into the stampede tragedy.
By allowing him to travel within India while keeping strict reporting requirements to the investigating officer, the court has tried to balance professional necessity with legal accountability, ensuring that Sosale remains available for the investigation while continuing his work responsibilities.
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