Bangalore police commissioner tells the board not to shift matches
on security grounds
The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) will be committing a serious mistake if it does not reconsider its decision to shift the two semifinal matches of IPL-3 out of Bangalore, city police commissioner Shankar M Bidari said in a letter to the cricket governing body.
If the BCCI don’t revise the decision to shift, “I am afraid, BCCI will be committing a serious mistake and will be besmirching the fair name of a secure city like Bangalore,” Bidari wrote..
Bidari later said here that the decision taken to shift the matches was not merely due to doubts over security. “There is something else to this (shifting of the venue),” he said, without elaborating.
The matches, scheduled to be held at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 21 and 22, were on Sunday shifted to Navi Mumbai, following two blasts and the detection of three live bombs outside the stadium.
“I was informed that the BCCI took the decision because I expressed apprehensions on the security. This is not true,” Bidari said.
Incidentally, the decision to shift the venue came 10 minutes after Bidari had submitted a report to the BCCI, detailing the security arrangements. He sent the report after a meeting with the top officials of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), the organiser of IPL matches in the city.
“We had submitted a report to the BCCI. We had assured the IPL members and KSCA of adequate security. Despite this, the match has been shifted. If they do not want to play in Bangalore, it is not our problem,” Bidari said.
“They are free to shift (the venue). But do not cite security as the reason,” Bidari told DNA. He said he had sent the letter to BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla. “BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla has stated that the Bangalore police commissioner has expressed apprehensions regarding security for semifinal matches to be held on April 21 and 22 and therefore BCCI has decided to shift the matches to Navi Mumbai from Bangalore,” the commissioner said in his letter..
Bidari said that Shukla’s statement that he had expressed apprehensions regarding providing security cover for the semifinal matches was “far from truth and baseless.”
“In a meeting held in my chambers at 12.30 pm, which was attended by IPL security officials, security consultants of foreign players, KSCA president and secretary, I have assured full protection for the semifinal matches. I have also explained the measures being taken to provide fool-proof security to semifinal matches,” Bidari told the BCCI in his letter.
Bidari claimed that the IPL security officials, security consultants of foreign players and KSCA officials had expressed satisfaction on his assurance. He appealed to the BCCI to consult the IPL security officials, security consultants of foreign teams, KSCA officials and reverse its decision to shift the matches to Navi Mumbai.
The KSCA delegation led by president Srikanta Datta Wadiyar said the police had assured adequate security. Later BCCI president Shashank Manohar told Wadiyar that the match has been shifted “as an extraordinary precautionary measures, keeping in mind the players and the spectators’ safety.”
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