Kolkata, May 11 (IANS) Organiser Satadru Dutta has claimed that Lionel Messi was unhappy over his arrest following the chaotic Kolkata event involving the Argentine football icon, while renewing allegations of political interference, security breaches, and a “one-way investigation” into the controversy.
Speaking exclusively to IANS nearly six months after the incident, Dutta alleged that Messi himself was disturbed by the developments surrounding the event and the subsequent police action against him.
“Messi was unhappy; he protested my arrest,” Dutta claimed.
The organiser reiterated that the event had a tightly controlled “show flow” approved by police and security authorities, but alleged that repeated violations by unauthorised individuals derailed the programme and eventually triggered crowd unrest. He claimed that the then West Bengal Sports Minister Aroop Biswas broke the whole show flow, “The most weird reason is obviously, the minister doesn’t know what his responsibility is, he played with the emotions of the state, emotions of the fan, and obviously, I became the victim of it,” Dutta alleged.
“He forgot that any action can jeopardise the event, he did it, the first thing he did was, he used his political clout to make sure that he can, you know, he can have his own will, you know, own way of doing this event,” he added.
Dutta maintained that Biswas was never officially authorised to be part of the programme surrounding Messi. “He was not part of the show flow. I have the show flow. I can show you the show flow, and I can share the show flow that was officially emailed to the police,” he said.
Questioning the minister’s presence during the event, Dutta added, “Have you seen any other minister in any other city where the event happened? Leaving the chief minister and that, and people who you know were part of the show, which we discussed, they are only there. Arup Biswas was not part of the show flow.”
The organiser further alleged that Biswas breached personal interaction protocols with Messi during the programme. “Absolutely, you know, he is, you have to understand, in Latin protocols, in Latin culture, unless you ask anybody, you can’t touch him. They call it a bad touch,” Dutta claimed.
“First thing he did was, you know, he touched his waist, he touched his shoulder. Don’t forget he’s Lionel Messi. And in the first interaction, it shouldn’t be like this. It should be a handshake,” he added.
According to Dutta, Messi appeared visibly uncomfortable as unauthorised individuals entered restricted areas for photographs.
“Leo, being a good guy, kept quiet. But then he was not leaving. He was calling his people, you know, this minister was calling his family members, calling his bureaucrat friends, taking photos, and he could have, you know, that was not part of the show flow. So he was feeling, you know, uneasy,” Dutta alleged.
Dutta also claimed he repeatedly objected to the situation during the live event. “I told him there are video footage. It was shown live in Durashtra and Soni Liv. I told him, please, why are you calling people to take photos?” he said.
“To be very honest, CP also told him, sir, apni baar mathe ke baroon. The CP said this,” Dutta claimed.
The organiser alleged that he was later unfairly targeted despite what he described as glaring security failures beyond his control.
“Absolutely, I am the scapegoat. You tell me, if there is a security breach, if somebody, an immature minister, does an immature act and hijacks my event, then what can an event organiser do?” Dutta said.
Calling for a fresh probe, Dutta questioned the credibility of the earlier investigation into the incident. “But the previous investigation, the seat, was a farce. I’ll tell you why, because the CP who was shown cause was part of the SIT. And in that SIT, nobody called Aroop Biswas or anyone,” he alleged.
“There are so many people on the ground. It is in the public domain. The CCTV footage from both gates could easily tell you who was on the ground. They should have been called, right? Why only me? Why only, you know, a one-way investigation?” he asked.
The controversy surrounding Messi’s Kolkata appearance triggered widespread political debate in West Bengal after crowd disorder, alleged security lapses, and protocol violations overshadowed what was billed as one of India’s biggest football events.
–IANS
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