Messi was 'unhappy' with being touched at Kolkata event, arrested main organiser tells SIT

Kolkata: Satadru Dutta, the arrested main organiser of Lionel Messi event here on December 13, has told investigators that the football icon was "unhappy with being touched or hugged" during his appearance at the Salt Lake Stadium and left before staying there full-time as scheduled, a source in the SIT said on Saturday.

During prolonged questioning by officers of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), Dutta said Messi "did not like being touched on the back or being hugged" and that the concern had been conveyed in advance by the foreign security officials responsible for the footballer's protection, he said.

"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 told investigators during his grilling on Friday, the source said.

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 completion of the investigation.

Investigators are also probing how such a large number of people gained access to the ground area.

Dutta also claimed that initially only 150 ground passes were issued, which, however, was tripled when a "very influential person" reached 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 PTI.

Dutta also disclosed financial details related to Messi's India visit.

"Lionel Messi was paid Rs 89 crore for the tour, while Rs 11 crore was paid as tax to the Indian government," he told investigators, placing the total expenditure at Rs 100 crore. Of this amount, 30 per cent was sourced from sponsors, while another 30 per cent was generated through ticket sales, sources said.

Meanwhile, an amount of over Rs 20 crore was found in the frozen bank accounts of Dutta by the officers of the SIT, the officer said.

On Friday, following the raids at Dutta's house, sleuths of the SIT seized several documents, he added.

"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," the officer said.

Thousands of spectators had purchased high-priced tickets to attend the event at Salt Lake Stadium, but the programme descended into chaos as a large number of people crowded around Messi on the field, making him barely visible from the galleries and triggering anger among fans, some of whom later vandalised parts of the stadium.

The West Bengal government had set up the Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising senior IPS officers Piyush Pandey, Javed Shamim, Supratim Sarkar and Muralidhar to investigate the vandalism at Argentine football star Lionel Messi’s event at the Salt Lake stadium. The SIT is also investigating security lapses, access violations, and the role of organisers and officials in the incident, the officer added.