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IPS officer Seemanth Kumar Singh has been appointed as the new city Police Commissioner of Bengaluru. The appointment was made late on the night of Thursday, June 5, shortly after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that top police officials, including Commissioner B Dayananda, were suspended in the wake of the tragic stampede that took place outside the Chinnaswamy stadium during RCB’s victory celebrations, which claimed the lives of 11 people.
Seemanth Kumar Singh, a 1996 batch IPS officer, was relieved from his post as Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force, and appointed as Bengaluru Commissioner of Police.
Apart from Dayananda, the other officers facing suspension for ‘substantial dereliction of duty’ are Additional Commissioner of Police West Vikash Kumar Vikash, DCP Central Shekhar Tekkannavar, ACP of Cubbon Park division Balakrishna, and the Inspector of Cubbon Park police station, AK Girish.
The order issued for the suspension of the Commissioner said that the CEO of RCB had sought permission from the city police on June 3 to hold a victory parade. However, “the office of the Police Commissioner failed to give a written reply to the Organisers, rejecting the permission on the ground of lack of time to prepare for such a huge event,” the order said.
The order also stated that despite the expectations of a huge turnout of fans, the RCB and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) did not issue tickets or passes. Despite the knowledge of these developments and expectation of a huge turnout of cricket fans by the police, steps were not taken to either have the event organised systematically at the stadium or give adequate information to the public to take necessary precautions for their safety or provide additional police force for appropriate crowd management, the order said.
“Further, the situation was not discussed with the higher-ups for taking necessary guidance and advice in the matter. As a result, the situation went out of control and brought a lot of misery, loss of precious life and embarrassment to the government,” the order stated.
It is to be noted that this is the first time in Karnataka’s history that a serving police commissioner has been suspended.
“We felt the police had been irresponsible and negligent. I have never seen a stampede since I became MLA. This has distressed us all,” CM Siddaramaiah said, during an emergency press briefing on Thursday night.
Siddaramaiah also said that the government had directed the arrest of representatives of the KSCA, private event management company DNA Entertainment and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. An FIR had been filed earlier on Thursday, June 5, against them at the Cubbon Park police station.
The CM also said that the investigation of the case would be handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department. He said that prima facie, there was negligence on the part of the police.
TNM had reported earlier on Thursday that there was a lack of coordination between RCB officials, KSCA, the government and the police. TNM had also reported that even within the police department, there was an utter lack of coordination, even though the Police Commissioner B Dayananda had denied the RCB permission for an open van victory parade.