The Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led government named Seemant Kumar Singh as the new Bengaluru Commissioner on Thursday. The recent development comes after CM Siddaramaiah suspended top police officers following the stampede in Bengaluru at the felicitation ceremony of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru that claimed 11 lives.
The officers suspended has been accused of “substantial dereliction of duty”.
Seemant Kumar Singh has been appointed as the new Commissioner of Police (CP) of Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/GpZj1TNkxm
— IANS (@ians_india) June 5, 2025
“Seemanth Kumar Singh, IPS (KN: 1996), Additional Director General of Police, Bengaluru Metropolitan Task Force, Bengaluru is transferred with immediate effect and posted until further orders as Additional Director General of Police & Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City, Bengaluru,” the notification stated as quoted by news agency PTI.
Karnataka CM has also ordered the arrest of representatives of the RCB team, the event management firm DNA Entertainment Private Limited, and the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), hours after an FIR was registered against them under various charges, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The state government’s action came amidst an all-out attack by the BJP, which has demanded the resignations of Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivkumar, who accused it of playing dirty politics.
Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister also announced a one-man judicial probe, headed by Justice Michael D’Cunha, a retired High Court judge of Karnataka, into the tragic incident.
The stampede occurred on Wednesday evening outside the stadium, where a large number of people thronged to participate in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team’s first-ever IPL victory celebrations.The FIRs were registered following a complaint by a police inspector at Cubbon Park station, police said.
Charges in the FIR included voluntarily causing hurt (section 115), voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by using dangerous weapons or means (section 118), voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty (section 121) and unlawful assembly (section 190) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Also on Thursday, Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner G Jagadeesha, who is heading the magisterial probe into the stampede, said notices will be issued to KSCA, RCB and others to join the inquiry while the Karnataka High Court, which took up the matter suo moto, directed the state government to file a status report into the tragic incident by June 10.
(With inputs from PTI.)
