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‘Surrounded, hand around his waist’: Why Messi didn't like the Kolkata event
Investigators are also probing how such a large number of people gained access to the ground area during the event.
The much-celebrated Messi tour in Kolkata had promised a spectacle for fans, but the event left the football icon disappointed, with spectators resorting to large-scale chaos and vandalism after failing to get a glimpse of the Argentinian football superstar.
Satadru Dutta, the main organiser of Lionel Messi event who is now in custody for ‘mismanagement’, told investigators that Messi was particularly displeased with being “touched or hugged” during his appearance, PTI reported.
He told investigators that the World Cup-winning footballer's foreign security officials had also conveyed concerns regarding it in advance to those responsible for the footballer’s protection.
“Despite repeated public announcements to restrain the crowd, there was no impact. The manner in which Messi was surrounded and embraced was completely unacceptable to the World Cup-winning footballer,” Dutta said during his grilling on Friday, sources said, PTI reported.
Also Read | Lionel Messi was 'unhappy' with being touched at Kolkata event, says arrested organiser Satadru Dutta
Why Messi didn't like Kolkata event?
West Bengal Sports Minister Aroop Biswas was seen in close proximity to Messi throughout the programme, with visuals showing him holding the footballer around the waist while posing for photographs.
Biswas has been accused of using his influence to allow relatives and personal acquaintances access to Messi. Amid mounting criticism, he resigned from his post as sports minister pending the completion of the investigation.
Investigators are also probing how such a large number of people gained access to the ground area during the event.
More details on the Messi visit
Dutta told investigators that Messi was paid ₹89 crore for the tour, while ₹11 crore was paid as tax to the Indian government, placing the total expenditure at ₹100 crore.
Of this amount, 30 per cent was sourced from sponsors and another 30 per cent was generated through ticket sales, sources said.
Meanwhile, officers of the Special Investigation Team found over ₹20 crore in Dutta’s frozen bank accounts. On Friday, following raids at his residence, SIT sleuths seized several documents.
“Dutta claimed that the amount in his bank account was the money which he got from selling the tickets for the Messi event in Kolkata and Hyderabad and also from the sponsors. We are verifying his claims,” an officer said.
Thousands of spectators had purchased high-priced tickets to attend the event, but the programme descended into chaos as a large number of people crowded around Messi on the field. This made him barely visible from the galleries and triggered anger among fans, some of whom later vandalised parts of the stadium.
The West Bengal government constituted a Special Investigation Team comprising senior IPS officers to probe the vandalism at the Messi event.
The SIT is also examining security lapses, access violations and the role of organisers and officials in the incident, the officer added.
Dutta further claimed that initially only 150 ground passes were issued, but this number was tripled after a “very influential person” arrived at the stadium and “overpowered him”.
Police are examining whether the expanded access directly contributed to the breakdown of crowd control.
“The arrested accused also claimed that once that particular influential person reached the stadium, all the flow-chart for the Messi programme got disturbed and he could not control it,” the official told Press Trust of India.
