Bengaluru: The Karnataka government continued to crack the whip in the aftermath of Wednesday’s Bengaluru stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium, which claimed 11 young lives and left dozens injured.
A day after suspending the Bengaluru police commissioner and some other senior police officials in the wake of the stampede, the state sacked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s political secretary K Govindaraj and transferred the head of Intelligence department Hemant Nimbalkar on Friday.
The punitive action against the CM’s political secretary was because he had pushed for IPL victory celebrations of Royal Challengers Bengaluru to be allowed despite the police commissioner’s reservations, NDTV reported citing sources. refusing to agree to three events and stating that a victory parade could not be given a go-ahead.
Police commissioner B Dayananda had reportedly refused to agree to three events and said that a victory parade could not be given a go-ahead.
But Govindaraj persuaded the top cop to allow two events – first at Vidhana Soudha, the state legislature complex, followed by felicitation of the champions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka Police arrested RCB marketing head Nikhil Sosale and three officials of event management company DNA Entertainment Private Limited.
The police were also looking to arrest two officials of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), but they could not be traced.
‘No coercive action till June 16’
In a relief for the state cricket body, Karnataka High Court barred the administration from taking any coercive action against any of its officials.
KSCA officials, along with RCB and DNA Entertainment, were named in the FIR filed in the stampede case, and charged under various sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including criminal negligence.
The cricket body moved the high court, with its president Raghuram Bhat, secretary A Shankar and treasurer ES Jairam filing a petition.
The high court restrained authorities from taking coercive action against the office bearers of the association till June 16.
Siddaramaiah defends action
As Opposition parties BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) accused the chief minister of using police officers as scapegoats to deflect responsibility from the state government, Siddaramaiah dismissed the allegation.
“They (Opposition) are speaking for the sake of politics. I don’t want to do politics in this matter. Those responsible prima facie, who have not fulfilled their responsibility properly, have been suspended,” PTI quoted the CM as saying.
RCB won their first IPL title after an 11-year wait. Within 15 hours of beating Punjab Kings at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, Virat Kohli & Co. returned to the team’s base to rapturous welcome from cricket-crazy fans.
Lakhs of people, mostly teenagers and youngsters, had lined the streets to greet the cricketers and gathered outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, which has a capacity of around 35,000 only.
