Karnataka govt revokes suspension of former Bengaluru top cop B Dayananda and 3 others

Suspension of Vikash Kumar Vikash still stands due to ongoing proceedings in the Karnataka High Court.

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Monday revoked the suspension of former Bengaluru police chief B Dayananda and three other police officers who were suspended following the June 4 stampede at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium that killed 11 people. 

Besides Dayananda, the government has revoked the suspension of then Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shekhar H Tekkannavar; C Balakrishna, then Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cubbon Park subdivision); and AK Girish, then inspector of the Cubbon Park police station. 

However, the suspension of Vikash Kumar Vikash, who was the Additional Commissioner of Police (West) and in charge of stadium security, has not been revoked. 

He had challenged his suspension before the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which revoked the order and observed that the government should extend similar relief to the other officers. 

The government has challenged the CAT order in the high court, where the case is still pending. 

"Since both the judicial commission and magisterial committee have completed their enquiry into the stampede incident and submitted their reports to the government on 10.07.2025 and 11.07.2025, respectively. Further, the officers have also submitted representations read at ref (5) requesting to revoke their suspension. In view of the above, the order of suspension of the above-said officers has been reconsidered by the government," the order stated. 

While the officers have been reinstated to active duty pending disciplinary proceedings, their new postings are not yet clear. 

The government has accepted the findings of the one-man judicial commission headed by Justice (retired) John Michael D’Cunha. The magisterial inquiry was conducted by Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner Jagadeesha G. 

The suspensions — ordered a day after the deadly stampede during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) maiden IPL title celebrations — had drawn citicism from both citizens as well as serving and retired IPS officers. 

At the time, the government had stated that the officers had shown "substantial dereliction of duty", and “brought a lot of misery, loss of precious life and embarrassment to the government". 

It also alleged that the police did not adequate steps for the celebrations and failed to give adequate information to the public to take the necessary precautionary steps.