Sidda’s political secretary sacked, intel chief shifted

The Karnataka Government on Friday sacked K Govindaraj as political secretary to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and shifted Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Intelligence, Hemant Nimbalkar in connection with the June 4 stampede that killed 11 persons.

Also, four officials of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and event management firm DNA Entertainment Private Limited were arrested over their role. The CM had yesterday ordered the arrests, saying prima facie there was “irresponsibility” and “carelessness” on their part.

Amid the action, a political furore erupted with the BJP-JD(S) alleging that Siddaramaiah was making the police a scapegoat. Siddaramaiah defended the action, saying that the Opposition was indulging in politics over the issue and action had been taken against the officials found responsible and negligent in duty.

While no specific reason was given in the notification to sack Govindraj, an MLC, it is believed that the victory celebrations of the RCB were allowed on his advice. Govindraj is a long-standing president of the Karnataka Olympic Association.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Police registered an FIR against the RCB, DNA and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), alleging "irresponsibility" and "carelessness" in crowd management.

A single-member commission headed by Justice Michael Cunha, a retired high court judge, will be formed to conduct an investigation. Besides, the state government has ordered a magisterial inquiry and also entrusted the investigation to the CID.

Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy has demanded the resignation of Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.

He asked the government that since three inquiries had been set up, which report would the government accept?

Speaking to the media, Kumaraswamy alleged that Shivakumar was craving publicity even when people were dying.

"Shivakumar acted as a rowdy during the incident. What was the necessity to hold the felicitation event at the grand stairs of the Vidhana Soudha? The entire state government made it their family event. It was a show of dadagiri by the Deputy CM. Even after knowing that people had died, he participated in the event held inside the stadium," Kumaraswamy alleged.

The Union Minister also said that to cover up the failure of the political leadership, police officials had been punished.

"Police officers were suspended to show some action to the High Court of Karnataka since the case is coming up for hearing on June 10," he said.

BJP state president BY Vijayendra said even as the media were reporting the deaths, Shivakumar was seen kissing the cup at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly R Ashoka said, "The wolves in the Congress government continue to hunt for scapegoats to absolve themselves of the sin of the Bengaluru stampede. Shame on Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar…"

The government suspended several senior police officials, including Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda, Additional Commissioner of Police Vikash Kumar Vikash, DCP (Central) Shekhar HT, Assistant Commissioner of Police Balakrishna and Cubbon Park Police Inspector Girish AK.

The BJP has demanded a special session of the legislature to discuss the stampede issue.

Shivakumar said the Opposition should respond on how many tears of aggrieved families they wiped.

"What is there to point against me? How will I be held responsible for this case," he questioned. "We will discuss the issue in the session. The KSCA organised this programme. I am a minister. Some officials said the event would end in 10 minutes. So I went to the stadium. What was wrong with that? I went to the HAL airport and welcomed the players with Kannada flags," Shivakumar said.

Asked about the felicitation programme continuing despite the death at 3.30 pm, he said, “At that time, I was not aware of the incident.”