Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, June 6: The fallout of the tragic stampede outside Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL victory celebrations continues to unfold, with the Karnataka High Court, police department, and state government all taking key actions.

In a major development, the Karnataka High Court has granted conditional relief to Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) president Raghuram Bhat, secretary A Shankar, and treasurer E S Jayaram.

The trio had filed a petition seeking quashing of the FIR filed against them in connection with the June 4 stampede that left 11 people dead and over 50 injured. A single-judge bench barred coercive action but directed the petitioners to cooperate with the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka government has removed several senior police officials, citing lapses in crowd control and intelligence. Bengaluru City police commissioner B Dayananda and four other officers were suspended on Thursday.

On Friday, additional director general of police (Intelligence) Hemant Nimbalkar was transferred for failing to alert authorities about the overwhelming crowd expected for the RCB celebration. Ravikumar has been appointed as the new Intelligence ADGP.

Further, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s political secretary K Govindaraju was removed from his post amid allegations that he played a key role in hurriedly organising the public event without adequate security measures. Ministers reportedly expressed strong displeasure over his conduct in a recent cabinet meeting. Govindaraju is also an MLC and president of the Karnataka Olympic Association.

RTI activist demands action against CM, DyCM
Adding to the pressure, RTI activist and social worker Snehamayi Krishna has filed a formal complaint at Cubbon Park police station, naming CM Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, and KSCA officials. He held the government directly responsible for the tragedy, calling the event a “hasty and unplanned public celebration for a private franchise.”

He demanded that police register a case under IPC Section 106 (culpable homicide due to negligence), instead of just an unnatural death report (UDR). “RCB is not a state team. There was no need for the government to organise a state-level felicitation,” she said.

Opposition parties have echoed similar sentiments, blaming the government for the lapses that led to the avoidable tragedy.