Two more vacancies created by suspensions in Bengaluru police top echelons filled up

Bengaluru: Hours after announcing the new Bengaluru City Police Chief, the state government also assigned additional responsibilities to two senior officers to fill up vacancies created by the suspension of the Additional Commissioner of Police (West) and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) in relation to failure to prevent Wednesday's stampede that claimed 11 lives at KSCA stadium.

Chandragupta, Additional Commissioner of Police of the Bengaluru Crime Branch, has been given the additional charge of Additional Commissioner of Police (West), while Hakay Akshay Machhindra, DCP Crime-1, will hold concurrent charge as DCP (Central).

Vikash Kumar Vikash and Shekhar H Tekkannavar had been suspended as Additional Commissioner of Police (West) and DCP (Central), respectively.

The state government had also suspended B Dayananda, then Police Commissioner; Balakrishna, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cubbon Park); and Girish A K, Cubbon Park Inspector.

The government’s decision to suspend the officers and hold them accountable for the tragedy has sparked heated debate on social media. Netizens are criticising Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar for the move.