Bengaluru Stampede: Karnataka Revokes Suspension of Top Cop, 3 Others; Internal Probe To Continue

News18

6 days ago

The Karnataka government issued the order after representations by the suspended officers and the submission of reports by district magistrate and judicial commission
The Karnataka government on Monday revoked the suspension of former Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda and three other officers in connection with the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede, in which 11 people died and at least 70 were left injured.
The Siddaramaiah-led government issued the revocation order following representations by the suspended officers and the submission of two inquiry reports – one by district magistrate G Jagadish as part of the magisterial inquiry, and the other by the one-person judicial commission headed by Justice John Michael Cunha, a retired Karnataka High Court judge.
The inquiries were conducted to investigate the stampede that took place during the RCB team's IPL victory celebrations.
The order stated: 'Since both the judicial commission and the magisterial committee have completed their enquiry into the stampede incident and submitted their reports to the government on 10.07.2025 (July 10) and 11.07.2025 (July 11), respectively, and since the officers have also submitted representations requesting to revoke their suspension, the suspension stands revoked."
Despite the revocation, however, Dayananda – an officer of the rank of additional director general of police (ADGP) – will not be promoted to DGP even as a vacancy arises on July 31, following the retirement of Malini Krishnamurthy. This is due to a pending departmental inquiry against him.
The suspensions of superintendent of police (SP) Shekar H Tekkannavar, deputy SP C Balakrishna, Cubbon Park police inspector AK Girish have also been revoked alongside Dayananda's.
'Despite revoking the suspension, the officers will have to face a departmental inquiry, which may be headed by a former judge or a former IAS officer. Only if the departmental inquiry gives all of them a clean chit can you say they are exonerated," a government source told News18.
Among the suspended senior officers was IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash, who was serving as additional Commissioner of Police (West) at the time of the incident. He had approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), seeking reinstatement soon after his suspensions as announced.
The suspension of Vikash Kumar Vikash, former additional commissioner of police (west), is not considered in this order as it remains pending with the high court. It depends on the decision on the state government's appeal against the order by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which Kumar had brought in his favour.
On July 10, the CAT passed an order quashing Kumar's suspension and directed the government to reinstate him. He told the tribunal that he was made a scapegoat and had been suspended without being given an opportunity to explain.
The CAT further ruled that his suspension period should be treated as official duty. He was then serving as additional commissioner of police (west) of Bengaluru City.
His suspension, however, has not been revoked as yet because the state government has challenged the CAT's order in the HC. While revoking the other suspensions, it said the departmental inquiries against all the officers will continue.
The stampede on June 4 left 11 people dead and dozens injured after massive crowds gathered at and around the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru to celebrate Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) historic IPL win – the team's first trophy in 18 years.
The Justice Cunha commission has held RCB, DNA Entertainment Networks, and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) responsible for the incident.
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