Bengaluru: Unprecedented security at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here for the Indian Premier League match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad Sunday turned the venue into a fortress.
With the tournament returning to India on May 2, a day after twin blasts at the Chennai central station on an express train that departed from Bengaluru late Wednesday, the police didn’t take any chances to provide fool-proof security to frenzied fans, teams, officials and VIPs who flocked to watch the match.
“We have deployed about 1,000 personnel in and around the stadium in the city centre to maintain law and order and ensure the game is played without disruption,” a senior police official told IANS at the venue.
Armed guards were deployed at entry and vantage points around the flood-lit stadium along with about 90 surveillance cameras, a bomb squad and a dog unit to sniff suspicious objects like explosives, arms and weapons.
“As there was a minor blast at the stadium in April 2010 before an IPL match and similar incidents at other places in the city, since then a three-layer security is provided with a dozen watch towers to monitor movements of people and vehicles,” police official Kamal Pant said.
