Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Friday relieved MLC K Govindaraj as political secretary to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and transferred Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Intelligence, Hemant Nimbalkar, following the stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium that killed 11 people and left 56 others injured, official sources said.
These decisions came a day after Siddaramaiah suspended Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda and four other senior police officials.
“The appointment of K Govindaraj as political secretary to the Chief Minister is hereby revoked with immediate effect. Accordingly, Govindaraj is hereby relieved from the post of political secretary with immediate effect,” an official notification stated.
Amid allegations of intelligence failure over the stampede and the administration’s inaction, the government has also decided to transfer Nimbalkar.
“Nimbalkar has been transferred, order is awaited,” official sources said.
Conceding that there was an intelligence failure, the CM on Thursday said: “No decision has been made yet about what action to be taken in this regard. We have discussed it.”
With clamour against the Karnataka government’s purported negligence growing, a city court on Friday remanded four people, including an official of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), to 14-day judicial custody in connection with the stampede.
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court sent to custody Nikhil Sosale, head of marketing and revenue of RCB, along with Sunil Mathew of the event management company DNA, who were arrested at the Kempegowda International Airport. Sumanth and Kiran Kumar, also of DNA, were also held in a joint operation by the crime branch and Bengaluru Police.
Sosale, who was heading to Dubai, had filed a petition challenging his arrest at the Karnataka High Court.
Justice SR Krishna Kumar, who heard the petition, had declined an interim relief from arrest and adjourned the case to June 9.
The development comes a day after the police had booked RCB, the event organising firm DNA and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).
While the RCB, DNA officials were taken into custody, KSCA’s key office-bearers were granted interim protection from arrest by the Karnataka High Court.
This comes as a huge relief for the KSCA officials in the wake of another FIR against the three firms over the stampede.
The FIR was registered at Cubbon Park police station under section 125 (a) (act endangering life and personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, based on a complaint by victim Rohan Gomes on June 5, they said.