YSR Congress party on Friday strongly rejected the judicial commission report which probed the incident of stampede during Vaikunta Ekadasi, in which six devotees were killed and scores of others sustained injuries.
YSRCP leader and former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams chairman Bhumana Karunakar Reddy demanded a CBI inquiry as the judicial panel report seems to be biased and predetermined one aimed at making a few lower-rung officials as scapegoats.
Bhumana said, the report, accepted by the state cabinet and held two persons Harinath Reddy and Ramana Kumar responsible for the stampede which claimed six lives and injured at least 29 others, and to initiate criminal proceedings.
“The report seems to be predetermined as it has let off all the main persons responsible for the incident, which includes the TTD, Revenue and police officials but has selectively picked two persons and made them scapegoats,” he said.
He demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident as the main persons were spared and small-time officials were held responsible. The inquiry seems to be an eyewash and a case study for all future inquiries.
Bhumana recalled that the previous YSRCP government has introduced extended darshan for ten days for the convenience of devotees after consulting religious heads, but that practice was done away with by the coalition government and did not make proper arrangements for the lakhs of devotees who have come for the Vaikunta Ekadasi darshan.
“While maintaining law and order was the job of the police officials, on whose orders the holding points were held is not told and Harinath Reddy who was at the ticket counter was suspended while the other person Suryaprakash, who was also present at the counter was let off. So is the case with Ramana Kumar,” he said.
He alleged that the TTD staff were in the service of VVIPs and when the incident occurred through Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan made bold statements the outcome has not been satisfactory.
