Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Monday revoked the suspension of Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda.
Three other police officers — Deputy Commissioner of Police Shekar H Tekkannavar, Assistant Commissioner of Police C Balakrishna and Inspector K Girish — were also reinstated
All of them were suspended last month following the June 4 stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where lakhs had gathered to catch a glimpse of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) cricketers, including their favourite Virat Kohli, who won the IPL for the first time beating Punjab Kings at Ahmedabad on the night of June 3. As Kohli & Co. were being felicitated, the mad rush to enter the stadium resulted in 11 young people being crushed to death.
The state government had ordered a magisterial enquiry and constituted a one-man judicial commission, chaired by retired Karnataka High Court judge Justice John Michael Cunha, into the stampede tragedy.
“Both the Judicial Commission and the Magisterial Committee have completed their enquiry into the stampede incident and submitted their reports to the government. The officers also submitted representations requesting to revoke their suspension,” a government order said.
The officers have been reinstated into service with immediate effect, “pending the initiation of disciplinary proceedings”, the order stated.
Also Read: Bengaluru Stampede: Police Officers Acted As ‘Servants Of RCB’, Karnataka Govt Tells High Court
Earlier this month, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) revoked Karnataka government’s suspension order against senior IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash. The tribunal observed that the police are neither ‘God’ nor ‘Magician’ to manage massive crowds at a short notice.
However, Vikash is yet to be reinstated because the matter is still in court.
The Congress government in Karnataka faced the heat and Opposition’s ire for making the police chief and other officers scapegoat for the stampede.
The Tribunal held RCB prima facie responsible for the massive crowd that gathered near the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
As RCB had posted on its social media handles about the victory parade and fan engagement on the morning of June 4, the Tribunal noted that the police department did not have sufficient time to manage such a large gathering at such short notice.
“Because of a shortage of time on 04.06.2026, the police were unable to make the appropriate arrangements. Sufficient time was not given to the police. Suddenly, the RCB created the aforesaid type of nuisance without any prior permission,” the Tribunal said.
