Siddaramaiah sacks political secy & intelligence chief amid blame game over stampede that killed 11
'He was the one who insisted on the celebrations and then told The Times of India that he advised the government against it,' said one person directly aware of the developments.
Govindraj is a long-standing president of the Karnataka Olympic Association (KOA) and is a member of the Upper House of the state legislature.
Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has sacked his political secretary and close aide, K.Govindaraj, as many within the government believed it was he who insisted on celebrating Royal Challengers Bengaluru's maiden IPL championship victory.
The state government also transferred Hemanth Nimbalkar, the Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) as heads continued to roll after the Chinnaswamy stadium stampede on Wednesday. Nimbalkar will retain his role as Commissioner, Department of Information and Public Relations. He will be replaced by S. Ravi, who will take over as the new intelligence chief, the government said in a notification.
The government has been under increasing pressure to take action against those responsible for the stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium which claimed 11 lives and left many injured on 4 June.
'At the Cabinet meeting yesterday (5 June), ministers complained (to the CM) that Govindraj was the one who insisted on holding the celebrations and then telling the media that he asked the government not to hold it,' the person cited above said.
The BJP and Janata Dal (JD(S) held a joint press conference in Bengaluru Friday where they said that the CM's office was directly responsible for the Chinnaswamy stadium tragedy.
H.D. Kumaraswamy, the former CM and Union Minister for Large and Medium Industries, said that the state government was going after efficient police officers instead of holding themselves accountable.
'Both CM and Deputy CM are responsible for the tragedy due to their obsession with power and publicity. Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar from Kanakapura was busy showing off. He was at court for a case in Kanakapura when he learned the Royal Challengers team was arriving in Bengaluru. To welcome them, the CM and his team had planned a grand reception at the steps of Vidhana Soudha. Learning this, D.K. Shivakumar rushed straight from court to HAL airport holding the RCB flag,' Kumaraswamy explained.
He added that the RCB celebration was nothing but a PR stunt gone wrong for the government.
'Dayananda had efficiently handled security for New Year celebrations and multiple cricket matches. Even when lakhs gathered on MG Road and Brigade Road, he ensured nothing untoward happened. Now they've suspended such an officer! What message are they sending?' he asked.
Bengaluru South MP, Tejasvi Surya too posted on X asking why law enforcement authorities were being selective in their probe of the tragedy.
'Why is Bangalore Police applying the law selectively? If RCB is being probed over social media posts, why aren't CM Siddaramaiah and DCM DK Shivakumar being summoned?' he asked in his post.
Why is Bangalore Police applying the law selectively?
If RCB is being probed over social media posts, why aren't CM Siddaramaiah and DCM DK Shivakumar being summoned?
They were equally involved and officially participated in the felicitation events at both Vidhana Soudha and… pic.twitter.com/dgxILGclMN
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) June 6, 2025
In 2017, during Siddaramaiah's first term as the chief minister, the Income Tax department had allegedly unearthed a diary from Govindraj's home with details of money, earned from kickbacks to senior Congress leaders. In February 2017, BJP's B.S. Yediyurappa alleged that Siddaramaiah received a kickback of Rs 150 crore for sanctioning the controversial Rs 1,791 crore steel flyover in Bengaluru. Of this amount, Rs 65 crore was paid to the party high command, Yediyurappa had claimed.
It was alleged that Govindraj's diary had initials like RG, SG and others which the BJP said was meant to denote the Congress high command.
Eleven people, including a 14-year-old girl, died and 47 were injured in the stampede Wednesday afternoon which occurred when lakhs of fans gathered to catch a glimpse of players from the Royal Challengers Bangalore after they won the Indian Premier League. But the celebrations, which were meant to be for special invitees only, turned tragic when a huge crowd gathered outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium and tried to climb trees and barricades to enter the stadium, triggering a stampede.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the decision to immediately suspend Bengaluru Police Commissioner B. Dayananda, Assistant Commissioner of Police C. Balakrishna, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Division) Shekhar H.Tekkannavar, Additional Commissioner of Police Vikash Kumar Vikash and Circle Police Inspector of Cubbon Park Police station A.K.Girish.
'It is found that there has been, on the face of it, substantial dereliction of duty by these officers,' the suspension order said.
After the suspensions, the opposition BJP and the JDS accused the chief minister of using police officers as scapegoats to deflect responsibility from the government. Siddaramaiah, however, accused the opposition of playing politics over the issue.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also Read: Bengaluru stampede tragedy: What science tells us about crowd control
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