A one-man judicial commission constituted by the Karnataka government in the wake of the Bengaluru cricket stadium stampede submitted its report to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday.
Justice (retd) John Michael D’Cunha had been appointed by the state government to probe the stampede that led to the deaths of 11 people on June 4.
The Justice D’Cunha commission had been tasked with investigating the lapses in planning, coordination, and crowd management during the stampede and was given a month to submit a report to the Congress government headed by CM Siddaramaiah.
After accepting the report from Justice D’Cunha, the Karnataka CM said the report would be placed before the state cabinet on July 17. Siddaramaiah added that the commission submitted its report in two volumes.
“I have not read the report in full,” he said in response to a query on the findings.
The Karnataka government had initially ordered a magisterial inquiry into the stampede alongside a police probe on the criminality involved in the stampede through multiple FIRs registered against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Karnataka State Cricket Association, and DNA Entertainment, an event management firm, for culpable homicide and negligence.
The government, however, ordered the judicial inquiry and the suspension of five police officers – including the then Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda and two other IPS officers – for dereliction of duty after the Karnataka High Court took up a suo motu case and posed nine questions to the government for fixing responsibility for the stampede deaths.
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“What happened near Chinnaswamy Stadium is an unfortunate accident. As a responsible government, we have taken accountability for the incident. We have suspended senior police officers, including the Bengaluru city police commissioner, and transferred the Chief of the State Intelligence Department. My political secretary has also been relieved of his duties. Additionally, we have constituted a one-member commission led by retired Justice John Michael Cunha to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter,” Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said last month regarding the actions of the government in the wake of the stampede incident.
The stampede occurred outside the Bengaluru cricket stadium as thousands of fans gathered to catch a glimpse of the Indian Premier League-winning team, even as a government-authorised felicitation event was being held for RCB players at the Vidhana Soudha – located less than a kilometre away.