Rejecting the judicial inquiry report into the Tirupati stampede, YSRCP spokesperson and former TTD chairman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy alleged that it was weakened to protect pro-government officials and to prevent the truth from coming to light.
He expressed anger that the entire report was watered down to protect those responsible for the stampede, who were very close to CM Chandrababu Naidu.
Accusing that lower-level employees were made scapegoats, he demanded a CBI inquiry to get the real truth out in this incident. He recalled that CM Chandrababu Naidu visited the areas where the stampede took place on January 9 and expressed his deep anger at the District Collector, SP, EO and CVSO.
Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan also came to Tirupati and concluded that the lack of coordination between the TTD Chairman, EO and Chairman was the reason for this incident and demanded that they apologize.
But, surprisingly, he said even before the judicial commission was formed, CM Chandrababu suspended only dairy farm officer Harinath Reddy and Crime DSP Ramana Kumar, holding them responsible. SP Subbarayudu and JEO Gauthamila were transferred and released.
Karunakar Reddy alleged that if we look at the commission report given after six months, it is clear that the government itself wrote the report and gave it to the people it wanted in the name of investigation.
He said that criminal cases were ordered to be registered against dairy farm officer Harinath Reddy and Crime DSP Ramana Kumar as planned. Karunakar Reddy criticized that he has been campaigning for the last six months to make Harinath Reddy a victim based on a script prepared in advance.
Karunakar Reddy reminded that when a similar incident took place in 2014 when Chandrababu was the CM, senior IAS officer Chandana Khan, who came for investigation, had clearly told the government in his report that the EO should be held responsible for the stampede incidents.
She said that the temple EO, as a person with all the powers, had delegated the responsibilities to the SP, Collector and Revenue Officer in the coordination meeting and given the proceedings.
However, Bhumana wondered how they leave all of them and take criminal action against only two? He said that unless the case is handed over to the CBI, there are no circumstances in which the real culprits behind this incident will come out.