Former IPS officer Ms. Kiran Bedi has strongly criticised the Karnataka government’s decision to suspend Bengaluru Police Commissioner Mr. B. Dayananda (1994-batch IPS officer) over the tragic stampede at Chinnaswamy Stadium, terming the move “irrational and demoralising” for the police force. Her remarks come amid rising support from within the policing fraternity, who allege the top cop is being unfairly scapegoated.
In a digital interview, Ms. Bedi said, “Every law-and-order situation is unique. He had to be heard. You cannot just pick up the commissioner. It is unfair and demoralising for the entire force.” She emphasised that Mr. Dayananda did not act in isolation, and the incident required a full investigation involving all levels of decision-making, including political leadership and the secretariat.
The stampede occurred last Wednesday at the stadium gate when massive crowds gathered to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s historic Indian Premier League victory. The incident resulted in 11 deaths — all under the age of 40 — and over 50 injuries.
Following the tragedy, the government suspended Mr. Dayananda for alleged dereliction of duty and replaced him with Mr. Seemanth Kumar Singh (1996-batch IPS officer). Several other administrative changes were also made, including the transfer of Mangaluru Police Commissioner Mr. Anupam Agrawal (2008-batch IPS officer), replacement by Mr. Sudheer Kumar Reddy (2010-batch IPS officer), the sacking of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s political secretary Mr. K. Govindaraj, and the transfer of Intelligence Chief Mr. Hemant Nimbalkar (1998-batch IPS officer).
Ms. Bedi questioned the haste of the decision: “This suspension order is like a fly picked out of a glass of milk. You need to check if there’s a swarm of flies.” She added that without understanding the full sequence of events or listening to police assessments in formal review meetings, singling out one officer was inappropriate.
Former Bengaluru Police Commissioner Mr. Bhaskar Rao echoed these concerns, calling Mr. Dayananda’s removal “unacceptable”. He alleged political pressure from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM Mr. D.K. Shivakumar influenced the decision, stating, “They brought the RCB team on a chartered flight. Now the police are being bulldozed for political optics.”
Police association sources claim the RCB management violated crowd-management protocols and have demanded an impartial probe into the matter, free of political interference. “To say that the police commissioner acted without consultation is factually incorrect,” a source said.
There are now calls for Mr. Dayananda and other affected officials to seek redress through the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), given the growing consensus that due process was not followed and the police are being unfairly targeted.
