Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s Political Secretary Sacked After Bengaluru Stampede
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah removed K Govindaraj as political secretary following a stampede at an RCB IPL victory celebration that killed 11. Several IPS officers were suspended, including the Bengaluru police commissioner.
The Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah-led government has relieved K Govindaraj from the post of political secretary to the chief minister with immediate effect, according to a state government notification. The removal of Govindraj comes days after the death of 11 people in the stampede at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on June 4.
K. Govindaraj relieved from the post of Political Secretary to the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with immediate effect, as per a state government notification.
— ANI (@ANI) June 6, 2025
Soon after the incident, Karnataka police suspended several IPS officers, including the Bengaluru city police commissioner, B Dayananda. On Thursday, senior IPS officer Seemant Singh took charge as the city police commissioner.
On Friday, CM Siddaramaiah said that prima facie, those who have not fulfilled their responsibility properly have been suspended. While speaking to reporters, he accused BJP and JD(S) of doing politics on the issue. Responding to a question on BJP and JD(S) demanding his and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar's resignation and accusing them of making police officials a scapegoat, Siddaramaiah said, “They are speaking for the sake of politics. I don't want to do politics in this matter. Prima facie those responsible, who have not fulfilled their responsibility properly have been suspended.”
The stampede occurred on Wednesday evening in front of the stadium, where a large number of people thronged to participate in the RCB team's IPL victory celebrations. Eleven people have died, and 56 were injured in the incident.
According to the suspension order, the CEO of RCB had intimated the Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City, on June 3 about holding the victory parade and celebrations on June 4; however, the office of the Police Commissioner failed to give a written reply to the organisers, rejecting the permission on the grounds of lack of time to prepare for such a huge event.
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