The Karnataka government Monday revoked suspensions of former Bengaluru police commissioner B Dayananda and three other officers who were suspended following the M Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede that claimed 11 lives on June 4.
However, IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash remains suspended. Among the suspended officers, Vikash had approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) seeking relief from his suspension.
The CAT granted Vikash’s petition and revoked his suspension. The state government subsequently challenged the CAT order, which is currently being heard by the Karnataka High Court.
Besides Dayananda, the government reinstated former deputy commissioner of police (Central) Shekhar H Tekkannavar, C Balakrishna (former assistant commissioner of police, Cubbon Park sub-division), and A K Girish (former police inspector, Cubbon Park police station).
The suspensions were imposed immediately after the stampede at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where celebrations were held on June 4, following Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title victory a day earlier. The government’s suspension order cited “substantial dereliction of duty” that caused “misery, loss of precious life and embarrassment for the government.”
The government had blamed the police for failing to implement adequate safety measures during the celebrations and for providing insufficient public information regarding necessary precautionary steps.
In Monday’s order, the government noted that following the stampede, it had ordered a magisterial inquiry and set up a one-man judicial commission under retired High Court judge Justice John Michael D’Cunha.
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“Since both the Judicial Commission and Magisterial Committee have completed their enquiry into the stampede incident and submitted their reports to the Government on 10.07.2025 and 11.07.2025, respectively. Further, the officers have also submitted representations read at ref (5) requesting to revoke their suspension. In view of the above, the order of suspension of the above-said officers has been reconsidered by the Government,” the government order reads.