Bengal govt show-causes DGP, senior officers for Messi event 'mismanagement' at Salt Lake Stadium

Kolkata: Acting on recommendations of the probe panel constituted to investigate alleged mismanagement during the Lionel Messi event at the Salt Lake Stadium last week, the West Bengal government on Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to DGP Rajeev Kumar, seeking explanation over the lapses reported at the venue and set a deadline of 24 hours to reply, a statement issued by the office of the chief secretary Manoj Pant said.

Additionally, Bidhannagar Police Commissioner Mukesh Kumar was also served a similar show-cause notice and asked to clarify the role and conduct of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate in the management of the event which had led to largescale chaos and vandalism by spectators within stadium premises on Saturday.

The state government suspended Bidhannagar Deputy Commissioner of Police Aneesh Sarkar and initiated departmental proceedings against him for reported negligence of duty on the day of the event, the statement said.

Principal Secretary of the Youth Affairs and Sports Department Rajesh Kumar Sinha has also been show-caused over the alleged lapses, while the services of Salt Lake Stadium Chief Executive Officer Deb Kumar Nandan were withdrawn with immediate effect.

As per recommendations of the three-member probe committee headed by retired Justice Ashim Kumar Roy, the state constituted a Special Investigation Team comprising four senior IPS officers—Piyush Pandey, Javed Shamim, Supratim Sarkar and Muralidhar—to conduct a thorough probe into the incident, which forced short-termination of the marque football event, led the football superstar to leave the venue early and caused an estimated stadium damage of nearly Rs 2 crore.